Coding of billiards in hyperbolic 3-space

Abstract

In this paper, we extend the scope of symbolic dynamics to encompass a specific class of ideal polyhedrons in the 3-dimensional hyperbolic space, marking an important step forward in the exploration of dynamical systems in non-Euclidean spaces. Within the context of billiard dynamics, we construct a novel coding system for these ideal polyhedrons, thereby discretizing their state and time space into symbolic representations. This paper distinguishes itself through the establishment of a conjugacy between the space of pointed billiard trajectories and the associated shift space of codes. A crucial finding herein is the observation that the closure of the related shift space emerges as a subshift of finite type (SFT), elucidating the structural aspects and asymptotic behaviour of these systems.