Chaotic Scattering on a Billiard

Abstract

We investigate chaotic scattering on an attractive step potential with a quadrupolar deformation. The phase space features of the bound billiard are studied by using the notion of symmetry lines to find periodic orbits. We show that the scattering dynamics is intimately linked to structures in the bound billiard (infinite potential wall) phase space. The existence of preferred scattering directions is shown to be a consequence of large scale features of the phase space such as the period-two orbits. Self-similarity in the scattering functions is directly linked to unstable periodic orbits of the bound phase space. The main observations and methodology are applicable to concave billiards in general.