We define "pensive billiards" - generalization of classical billiards. In this system, while the usual incidence-reflection law is preserved, the billiard ball travels along the boundary for some distance depending on the incidence angle. We show that a certain pensive billiard approximates the motion of particular configurations of point vortices in 2D hydrodynamics. We also show how various classical dynamical systems such as geodesics on generalized cylinders, interval exchange transformations, and "puck billiards" of Misha Bialy can be realized as particular cases of pensive billiards. Variational origin and invariance of symplectic structure for pensive billiards will be discussed. This is a joint work with T.Drivas and B.Khesin.
The talk will be via Zoom at:
https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/99576627828
Passcode: 448487