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# Proof of the Boltzmann-Sinai Ergodic Hypothesis for Typical Hard Disk Systems

## Proof of the Boltzmann-Sinai Ergodic Hypothesis
for Typical Hard Disk Systems

Nándor Simányi 111Research supported by the National Science Foundation, grant DMS-0098773.

University of Alabama at Birmingham

Department of Mathematics

Campbell Hall, Birmingham, AL 35294 U.S.A.

E-mail: simanyimath.uab.edu

Abstract. We consider the system of $`N`$ ($`2`$) hard disks of masses $`m_1,\mathrm{},m_N`$ and radius $`r`$ in the flat unit torus $`𝕋^2`$. We prove the ergodicity (actually, the B-mixing property) of such systems for almost every selection $`(m_1,\mathrm{},m_N;r)`$ of the outer geometric parameters.

Primary subject classification: 37D50

Secondary subject classification: 34D05

## §1. Introduction

Hard ball systems or, a bit more generally, mathematical billiards constitute an important and quite interesting family of dynamical systems being intensively studied by dynamicists and researchers of mathematical physics, as well. These dynamical systems pose many challenging mathematical questions, most of them concerning the ergodic (mixing) properties of such systems. The introduction of hard ball systems and the first major steps in their investigations date back to the 40’s and 60’s, see Krylov’s paper \[K(1979)\] and Sinai’s ground-breaking works \[Sin(1963)\] and \[Sin(1970)\], in which the author — among other things — formulated the modern version of Boltzmann’s ergodic hypothesis (what we call today the Boltzmann–Sinai ergodic hypothesis) by claiming that every hard ball system in a flat torus is ergodic, of course after fixing the values of the trivial flow-invariant quantities. In the papers \[Sin(1970)\] and \[B-S(1973)\] Bunimovich and Sinai proved this hypothesis for two hard disks on the two-dimensional unit torus $`𝕋^2`$. The generalization of this result to higher dimensions $`\nu >2`$ took fourteen years, and was done by Chernov and Sinai in \[S-Ch(1987)\]. Although the model of two hard balls in $`𝕋^\nu `$ is already rather involved technically, it is still a so called strictly dispersive billiard system, i. e. such that the smooth components of the boundary $``$ of the configuration space are strictly concave from outside $``$. (They are bending away from $``$.) The billiard systems of more than two hard balls in $`𝕋^\nu `$ are no longer strictly dispersive, but just semi-dispersive (strict concavity of the smooth components of $``$ is lost, merely concavity persists), and this circumstance causes a lot of additional technical troubles in their study. In the series of my joint papers with A. Krámli and D. Szász \[K-S-Sz(1989)\], \[K-S-Sz(1990)\], \[K-S-Sz(1991)\], and \[K-S-Sz(1992)\] we developed several new methods, and proved the ergodicity of more and more complicated semi-dispersive billiards culminating in the proof of ergodicity of four billiard balls in the torus $`𝕋^\nu `$ ($`\nu 3`$), \[K-S-Sz(1992)\]. Then, in 1992, Bunimovich, Liverani, Pellegrinotti and Sukhov \[B-L-P-S(1992)\] were able to prove the ergodicity for some systems with an arbitrarily large number of hard balls. The shortcoming of their model, however, is that, on one hand, they restrict the types of all feasible ball-to-ball collisions, on the other hand, they introduce some additional scattering effect with the collisions at the strictly concave wall of the container. The only result with an arbitrarily large number of balls in a flat unit torus $`𝕋^\nu `$ was achieved in \[Sim(1992-A-B)\], where the author managed to prove the ergodicity (actually, the K-mixing property) of $`N`$ hard balls in $`𝕋^\nu `$, provided that $`N\nu `$. The annoying shortcoming of that result is that the larger the number of balls $`N`$ is, larger and larger dimension $`\nu `$ of the ambient container is required by the method of the proof.

On the other hand, if someone considers a hard ball system in an elongated torus which is long in one direction but narrow in the others, so that the balls must keep their cyclic order in the “long direction” (Sinai’s “pen-case” model), then the technical difficulties can be handled, thanks to the fact that the collisions of balls are now restricted to neighboring pairs (in the cyclic order). The hyperbolicity of such models in three dimensions and the ergodicity in dimension four have been proved in \[S-Sz(1995)\].

The positivity of the metric entropy for several systems of hard balls can be proved relatively easily, as was shown in the paper \[W(1988)\]. The papers \[L-W(1995)\] and \[W(1990)\] are nice surveys describing a general setup leading to the technical problems treated in a series of research papers. For a comprehensive survey of the results and open problems in this field, see \[Sz(1996)\].

Pesin’s theory \[P(1977)\] on the ergodic properties of non-uniformly hyperbolic, smooth dynamical systems has been generalized substantially to dynamical systems with singularities (and with a relatively mild behavior near the singularities) by A. Katok and J-M. Strelcyn \[K-S(1986)\]. Since then, the so called Pesin’s and Katok-Strelcyn’s theories have become part of the folklore in the theory of dynamical systems. They claim that — under some mild regularity conditions, particularly near the singularities — every non-uniformly hyperbolic and ergodic flow enjoys the Kolmogorov-mixing property, shortly the K-mixing property.

Later on it was discovered and proved in \[C-H(1996)\] and \[O-W(1998)\] that the above mentioned fully hyperbolic and ergodic flows with singularities turn out to be automatically having the Bernoulli mixing (B-mixing) property. It is worth noting here that almost every semi-dispersive billiard system, especially every hard ball system, enjoys those mild regularity conditions imposed on the systems (as axioms) by \[K-S(1986)\], \[C-H(1996)\], and \[O-W(1998)\]. In other words, for a hard ball flow $`(𝕄,\{S^t\},\mu )`$ the (global) ergodicity of the systems actually implies its full hyperbolicity and the B-mixing property, as well.

Finally, in our joint venture with D. Szász \[S-Sz(1999)\], we prevailed over the difficulty caused by the low value of the dimension $`\nu `$ by developing a brand new algebraic approach for the study of hard ball systems. That result, however, only establishes complete hyperbolicity (nonzero Lyapunov exponents almost everywhere) for $`N`$ balls in $`𝕋^\nu `$. The ergodicity appeared to be a harder task.

Consider the $`\nu `$-dimensional ($`\nu 2`$), standard, flat, unit torus $`𝕋^\nu =^\nu /^\nu `$ as the vessel containing $`N`$ ($`2`$) hard balls (spheres) $`B_1,\mathrm{},B_N`$ with positive masses $`m_1,\mathrm{},m_N`$ and (just for simplicity) common radius $`r>0`$. We always assume that the radius $`r>0`$ is not too big, so that even the interior of the arising configuration space $``$ is connected. Denote the center of the ball $`B_i`$ by $`q_i𝕋^\nu `$, and let $`v_i=\dot{q}_i`$ be the velocity of the $`i`$-th particle. We investigate the uniform motion of the balls $`B_1,\mathrm{},B_N`$ inside the container $`𝕋^\nu `$ with half a unit of total kinetic energy: $`E={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}_{i=1}^Nm_iv_i^2={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}`$. We assume that the collisions between balls are perfectly elastic. Since — beside the kinetic energy $`E`$ — the total momentum $`I=_{i=1}^Nm_iv_i^\nu `$ is also a trivial first integral of the motion, we make the standard reduction $`I=0`$. Due to the apparent translation invariance of the arising dynamical system, we factorize out the configuration space with respect to uniform spatial translations as follows: $`(q_1,\mathrm{},q_N)(q_1+a,\mathrm{},q_N+a)`$ for all translation vectors $`a𝕋^\nu `$. The configuration space $``$ of the arising flow is then the factor torus $`(\left(𝕋^\nu \right)^N/)𝕋^{\nu (N1)}`$ minus the cylinders

$$C_{i,j}=\{(q_1,\mathrm{},q_N)𝕋^{\nu (N1)}:\text{dist}(q_i,q_j)<2r\}$$

($`1i<jN`$) corresponding to the forbidden overlap between the $`i`$-th and $`j`$-th spheres. Then it is easy to see that the compound configuration point

$$q=(q_1,\mathrm{},q_N)=𝕋^{\nu (N1)}\underset{1i<jN}{}C_{i,j}$$

moves in $``$ uniformly with unit speed and bounces back from the boundaries $`C_{i,j}`$ of the cylinders $`C_{i,j}`$ according to the classical law of geometric optics: the angle of reflection equals the angle of incidence. More precisely: the post-collision velocity $`v^+`$ can be obtained from the pre-collision velocity $`v^{}`$ by the orthogonal reflection across the tangent hyperplane of the boundary $``$ at the point of collision. Here we must emphasize that the phrase “orthogonal” should be understood with respect to the natural Riemannian metric (the so called mass metric) $`dq^2=_{i=1}^Nm_idq_i^2`$ in the configuration space $``$. For the normalized Liouville measure $`\mu `$ of the arising flow $`\{S^t\}`$ we obviously have $`d\mu =\text{const}dqdv`$, where $`dq`$ is the Riemannian volume in $``$ induced by the above metric and $`dv`$ is the surface measure (determined by the restriction of the Riemannian metric above) on the sphere of compound velocities

$$𝕊^{\nu (N1)1}=\{(v_1,\mathrm{},v_N)\left(^\nu \right)^N:\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}m_iv_i=0\text{ and }\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}m_iv_i^2=1\}.$$

The phase space $`𝕄`$ of the flow $`\{S^t\}`$ is the unit tangent bundle $`\times 𝕊^{d1}`$ of the configuration space $``$. (We will always use the shorthand notation $`d=\nu (N1)`$ for the dimension of the billiard table $``$.) We must, however, note here that at the boundary $``$ of $``$ one has to glue together the pre-collision and post-collision velocities in order to form the phase space $`𝕄`$, so $`𝕄`$ is equal to the unit tangent bundle $`\times 𝕊^{d1}`$ modulo this identification.

A bit more detailed definition of hard ball systems with arbitrary masses, as well as their role in the family of cylindric billiards, can be found in §4 of \[S-Sz(2000)\] and in §1 of \[S-Sz(1999)\]. We denote the arising flow by $`(𝕄,\{S^t\}_t,\mu )`$.

The joint work of Ya. G. Sinai and N. I. Chernov \[S-Ch(1987)\] paved the way for further fundamental results concerning the ergodicity of $`(𝕄,\{S^t\}_t,\mu )`$. They proved there a strong result on local ergodicity: An open neighborhood $`U𝕄`$ of every phase point with a hyperbolic trajectory (and with at most one singularity on its trajectory) belongs to a single ergodic component of the billiard flow $`(𝕄,\{S^t\}_t,\mu )`$, of course, modulo the zero measure sets. An immediate consequence of this result is the (hyperbolic) ergodicity of the hard ball systems with $`N=2`$ and $`\nu 2`$.

### Remark

It is worth noting here that the proof of the above mentioned Theorem on Local Ergodicity by Chernov and Sinai necessitates the assumption of an annoying technical condition, the so called “Chernov-Sinai Ansatz”, see Condition 3.1 in \[K-S-Sz(1990)\]. The first part of §3 of this paper will be devoted for proving this condition.

In the series of papers \[K-S-Sz(1989)\], \[K-S-Sz(1991)\], \[K-S-Sz(1992)\], \[Sim(1992 -A)\], and \[Sim(1992-B)\], the authors developed a powerful, three-step strategy for proving the (hyperbolic) ergodicity of hard ball systems. First of all, all these proofs are inductions on the number $`N`$ of balls involved in the problem. Secondly, the induction step itself consists of the following three major steps:

### Step I

To prove that every non-singular (i. e. smooth) trajectory segment $`S^{[a,b]}x_0`$ with a “combinatorially rich” (in a well defined sense) symbolic collision sequence is automatically sufficient (or, in other words, “geometrically hyperbolic”, see below in §2), provided that the phase point $`x_0`$ does not belong to a countable union $`J`$ of smooth sub-manifolds with codimension at least two. (Containing the exceptional phase points.)

The exceptional set $`J`$ featuring this result is negligible in our dynamical considerations — it is a so called slim set. For the basic properties of slim sets, please see §2.7 below.

### Step II

Assume the induction hypothesis, i. e. that all hard ball systems with $`n`$ balls ($`n<N`$) are (hyperbolic and) ergodic. Prove that there exists a slim set $`S𝕄`$ (see §2.7) with the following property: For every phase point $`x_0𝕄S`$ the entire trajectory $`S^{}x_0`$ contains at most one singularity and its symbolic collision sequence is combinatorially rich, just as required by the result of Step I.

### Step III

By using again the induction hypothesis, prove that almost every singular trajectory is sufficient in the time interval $`(t_0,+\mathrm{})`$, where $`t_0`$ is the time moment of the singular reflection. (Here the phrase “almost every” refers to the volume defined by the induced Riemannian metric on the singularity manifolds.)

We note here that the almost sure sufficiency of the singular trajectories (featuring Step III) is an essential condition for the proof of the celebrated Theorem on Local Ergodicity for algebraic semi-dispersive billiards proved by Bálint–Chernov–Szász–Tóth in \[B-Ch-Sz-T (2002)\]. Under this assumption that theorem states that in any algebraic semi-dispersive billiard system (i. e. in a system such that the smooth components of the boundary $``$ are algebraic hypersurfaces) a suitable, open neighborhood $`U_0`$ of any sufficient phase point $`x_0𝕄`$ (with at most one singularity on its trajectory) belongs to a single ergodic component of the billiard flow $`(𝕄,\{S^t\}_t,\mu )`$.

In an inductive proof of ergodicity, steps I and II together ensure that there exists an arc-wise connected set $`C𝕄`$ with full measure, such that every phase point $`x_0C`$ is sufficient with at most one singularity on its trajectory. Then the cited Theorem on Local Ergodicity states that for every phase point $`x_0C`$ an open neighborhood $`U_0`$ of $`x_0`$ belongs to one ergodic component of the flow. Finally, the connectedness of the set $`C`$ and $`\mu (𝕄C)=0`$ easily imply that the flow $`(𝕄,\{S^t\}_t,\mu )`$ (now with $`N`$ balls) is indeed ergodic, and actually fully hyperbolic, as well.

In the papers \[K-S-Sz(1991)\], \[K-S-Sz(1992)\] the authors followed the strategy outlined above and obtained the (hyperbolic) ergodicity of three and four hard balls, respectively. Technically speaking, in those papers we always assumed tacitly that the masses of balls are equal.

The twin papers \[Sim(1992-A-B)\] of mine brought new topological and geometric tools to attack the problem of ergodicity. Namely, in \[Sim(1992-A)\], a brand new topological method was developed, and that resulted in settling Step II of the induction, once forever.

In the subsequent paper \[Sim(1992-B)\] a new combinatorial approach for handling Step I was developed in the case when the dimension $`\nu `$ of the toroidal container is not less than the number of balls $`N`$. This proves the ergodicity of every hard ball system with $`\nu N`$.

The main result of this paper is our

###### Theorem

In the case $`\nu =2`$ (i. e. for hard disks in $`𝕋^2`$) for almost every selection $`(r;m_1,\mathrm{},m_N)`$ of the outer geometric parameters from the region $`0<r<r_0`$, $`m_i>0`$, (here the inequality $`r<r_0`$ just describes the region where the interior of the configuration space is connected) it is true that the billiard flow $`(𝕄_{\stackrel{}{m},r},\{S^t\},\mu _{\stackrel{}{m},r})`$ of the $`N`$-disk system is ergodic and completely hyperbolic. Then, following from the results of Chernov–Haskell \[C-H(1996)\] and Ornstein–Weiss \[O-W(1998)\], such a semi-dispersive billiard system actually enjoys the B-mixing property, as well.

A few remarks concerning this theorem are now in place.

### Remark 1

The above inequality $`r<r_0`$ corresponds to physically relevant situations. Indeed, in the case $`rr_0`$ the particles would not have enough room even to freely exchange positions.

### Remark 2

Below we present an inductive proof following the above drafted three-step strategy I–III amended in such a way that the exceptional set $`J`$ featuring Step I is no longer a countable union of codimension-two (i. e. at least two) sets but, rather, it is a countable union of proper (i. e. of codimension at least one) sub-manifolds. This shortcoming of Step I makes it possible (in principle, at least) that countably many open ergodic components $`C_1,C_2,\mathrm{}`$ coexist in such a way that they are separated from each other by codimension-one, smooth, exceptional sub-manifolds $`J`$ of $`𝕄`$ featuring Step I. The main contents of the present paper is to exclude this possibility, and this is precisely what is going on in §4–8 below. It is just this proof of the non-existence of separating manifolds $`J`$ that essentially uses the dimension condition $`\nu =2`$.

### Remark 3

The last remark concerns the fact that — at least in principle — an unspecified zero measure set of the outer geometric parameters $`(m_1,\mathrm{},m_N;r)`$ has to be dropped in the theorem. But why? The reason is the same as for the dropping of the zero set in the main theorem of \[S-Sz(1999)\], in which we proved that a hard ball system (in any given dimension $`\nu 2`$) is almost surely fully hyperbolic, that is, its relevant Lyapunov exponents are nonzero almost everywhere. In fact, in the proof of Proposition 3.1 below (which is required for the proof of the Chernov-Sinai Ansatz, i. e. Step III) we successfully applied the algebraic method developed in \[S-Sz(1999)\]. Proposition 3.1 asserts that the intersection of the exceptional set $`J`$ (featuring Step I) and the singularity set $`𝒮^+`$ (see the two paragraphs preceding Proposition 3.1) has at least two codimensions, that is, $`J`$ and $`𝒮^+`$ cannot even locally coincide.

The paper is organized as follows. After putting forward the prerequisites in §2, in the subsequent section we carry out the inductive proof of the ergodicity by assuming the non-existence of the separating manifolds $`J`$. Then all remaining sections 4–8 are devoted to the proof of the non-existence of $`J`$-manifolds. That proof contains a lot of new geometric ideas. Finally, in §9, two remarks conclude the article. One of them regards the role of Proposition 3.1 in the entire proof, while the other one applies the method of \[S-W(1989)\] to prove the striking fact that a typical (i. e. an ergodic, or B-mixing) hard disk system retains its B-mixing property even if one omits the translation factorization $`(q_1,\mathrm{},q_N)(q_1+a,\mathrm{},q_N+a)`$ of the configuration space, despite the fact that the dropping of this factorization introduces 2 zero Lyapunov exponents!

## §2. Prerequisites

### 2.1 Cylindric billiards

Consider the $`d`$-dimensional ($`d2`$) flat torus $`𝕋^d=^d/`$ supplied with the usual Riemannian inner product $`.,.`$ inherited from the standard inner product of the universal covering space $`^d`$. Here $`^d`$ is assumed to be a lattice, i. e. a discrete subgroup of the additive group $`^d`$ with $`\text{rank}()=d`$. The reason why we want to allow general lattices, other than just the integer lattice $`^d`$, is that otherwise the hard ball systems would not be covered. The geometry of the structure lattice $``$ in the case of a hard ball system is significantly different from the geometry of the standard lattice $`^d`$ in the standard Euclidean space $`^d`$, see later in this section.

The configuration space of a cylindric billiard is $`=𝕋^d\left(C_1\mathrm{}C_k\right)`$, where the cylindric scatterers $`C_i`$ ($`i=1,\mathrm{},k`$) are defined as follows.

Let $`A_i^d`$ be a so called lattice subspace of $`^d`$, which means that $`\text{rank}(A_i)=\text{dim}A_i`$. In this case the factor $`A_i/(A_i)`$ is a sub-torus in $`𝕋^d=^d/`$ which will be taken as the generator of the cylinder $`C_i𝕋^d`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{},k`$. Denote by $`L_i=A_i^{}`$ the ortho-complement of $`A_i`$ in $`^d`$. Throughout this paper we will always assume that $`\text{dim}L_i2`$. Let, furthermore, the numbers $`r_i>0`$ (the radii of the spherical cylinders $`C_i`$) and some translation vectors $`t_i𝕋^d=^d/`$ be given. The translation vectors $`t_i`$ play a crucial role in positioning the cylinders $`C_i`$ in the ambient torus $`𝕋^d`$. Set

$$C_i=\{x𝕋^d:\text{dist}(xt_i,A_i/(A_i))<r_i\}.$$

In order to avoid further unnecessary complications, we always assume that the interior of the configuration space $`=𝕋^d\left(C_1\mathrm{}C_k\right)`$ is connected. The phase space $`𝕄`$ of our cylindric billiard flow will be the unit tangent bundle of $``$ (modulo some natural gluing at its boundary), i. e. $`𝕄=\times 𝕊^{d1}`$. (Here $`𝕊^{d1}`$ denotes the unit sphere of $`^d`$.)

The dynamical system $`(𝕄,\{S^t\}_t,\mu )`$, where $`S^t`$ ($`t`$) is the dynamics defined by the uniform motion inside the domain $``$ and specular reflections at its boundary (at the scatterers), and $`\mu `$ is the Liouville measure, is called a cylindric billiard flow we want to investigate.

We note that the cylindric billiards — defined above — belong to the wider class of so called semi-dispersive billiards, which means that the smooth components $`_i`$ of the boundary $``$ of the configuration space $``$ are (not necessarily strictly) concave from outside of $``$, i. e. they are bending away from the interior of $``$. As to the notions and notations in connection with semi-dispersive billiards, the reader is kindly referred to the paper \[K-S-Sz(1990)\].

### 2.2 Hard ball systems

Hard ball systems in the standard unit torus $`𝕋^\nu =^\nu /^\nu `$ ($`\nu 2`$) with positive masses $`m_1,\mathrm{},m_N`$ are described (for example) in §1 of \[S-Sz(1999)\]. These are the dynamical systems describing the motion of $`N`$ ($`2`$) hard balls with radii $`r_1,r_2,\mathrm{},r_N`$ and positive masses $`m_1,\mathrm{},m_N`$ in the standard unit torus $`𝕋^\nu =^\nu /^\nu `$. (For simplicity we assume that these radii have the common value $`r`$.) The center of the $`i`$-th ball is denoted by $`q_i`$ ($`𝕋^\nu `$), its time derivative is $`v_i=\dot{q}_i`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{},N`$. One uses the standard reduction of kinetic energy $`E=\frac{1}{2}_{i=1}^Nm_iv_i^2=\frac{1}{2}`$. The arising configuration space (still without the removal of the scattering cylinders $`C_{i,j}`$) is the torus

$$𝕋^{\nu N}=\left(𝕋^\nu \right)^N=\{(q_1,\mathrm{},q_N):q_i𝕋^\nu ,i=1,\mathrm{},N\}$$

supplied with the Riemannian inner product (the so called mass metric)

$$v,v^{}=\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}m_iv_i,v_i^{}$$
$`\mathrm{2.2.1}`$
in its common tangent space $`^{\nu N}=\left(^\nu \right)^N`$. Now the Euclidean space $`^{\nu N}`$ with the inner product (2.2.1) plays the role of $`^d`$ in the original definition of cylindric billiards, see §2.1 above.

The generator subspace $`A_{i,j}^{\nu N}`$ ($`1i<jN`$) of the cylinder $`C_{i,j}`$ (describing the collisions between the $`i`$-th and $`j`$-th balls) is given by the equation

$$A_{i,j}=\{(q_1,\mathrm{},q_N)\left(^\nu \right)^N:q_i=q_j\},$$
$`\mathrm{2.2.2}`$
see (4.3) in \[S-Sz(2000)\]. Its ortho-complement $`L_{i,j}^{\nu N}`$ is then defined by the equation

$$L_{i,j}=\{(v_1,\mathrm{},v_N)\left(^\nu \right)^N:v_k=0\text{ for }ki,j,\text{ and }m_iv_i+m_jv_j=0\},$$
$`\mathrm{2.2.3}`$
see (4.4) in \[S-Sz(2000)\]. Easy calculation shows that the cylinder $`C_{i,j}`$ (describing the overlap of the $`i`$-th and $`j`$-th balls) is indeed spherical and the radius of its base sphere is equal to $`r_{i,j}=2r\sqrt{\frac{m_im_j}{m_i+m_j}}`$, see §4, especially formula (4.6) in \[S-Sz(2000)\].

The structure lattice $`^{\nu N}`$ is clearly the integer lattice $`=^{\nu N}`$.

Due to the presence of an extra invariant quantity $`I=_{i=1}^Nm_iv_i`$, one usually makes the reduction $`_{i=1}^Nm_iv_i=0`$ and, correspondingly, factorizes the configuration space with respect to uniform spatial translations:

$$(q_1,\mathrm{},q_N)(q_1+a,\mathrm{},q_N+a),a𝕋^\nu .$$

The natural, common tangent space of this reduced configuration space is then

$$𝒵=\{(v_1,\mathrm{},v_N)\left(^\nu \right)^N:\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}m_iv_i=0\}=\left(\underset{i<j}{}A_{i,j}\right)^{}=\left(𝒜\right)^{}$$
$`\mathrm{2.2.4}`$
supplied again with the inner product (2.2.1), see also (4.1) and (4.2) in \[S-Sz(2000)\]. The base spaces $`L_{i,j}`$ of (2.2.3) are obviously subspaces of $`𝒵`$, and we take $`\stackrel{~}{A}_{i,j}=A_{i,j}𝒵=P_𝒵(A_{i,j})`$ as the ortho-complement of $`L_{i,j}`$ in $`𝒵`$. (Here $`P_𝒵`$ denotes the orthogonal projection onto the space $`𝒵`$.)

Note that the configuration space of the reduced system (with $`_{i=1}^Nm_iv_i=0`$) is naturally the torus $`^{\nu N}/(𝒜+^{\nu N})=𝒵/P_𝒵(^{\nu N})`$.

### 2.3 Singularities and Trajectory Branches

The billiard flow $`(𝕄,\{S^t\}_t,\mu )`$ has two types of singularities: The first type is the so called tangency (or tangential reflection/collision) that takes place at a phase point $`(q,v)𝕄`$, where the velocity vector happens to lie inside the tangent space $`𝒯_q`$ of the boundary $``$ of the configuration space. If a trajectory hits this type of singularity, it still has a unique continuation, the flow is still continuous at such a phase point, but it ceases to be differentiable. The first return map $`T`$ to the boundary $`𝕄`$ is no longer even continuous in any neighborhood of a phase point with tangential singularity.

The second type of singularity is the case of a so called “double collision”, when two collisions $`(i,j)`$ and $`(j,k)`$ (sharing the same disk labeled by $`j`$ here) happen to take place exactly at the same time $`t_0`$. (Typically there are no more collisions taking place at time $`t_0`$.) We are going to briefly describe the discontinuity of the flow $`\{S^t\}`$ caused by a double collision at time $`t_0`$. Assume first that the pre–collision velocities of the particles are given. What can we say about the possible post–collision velocities? Let us perturb the pre–collision phase point (at time $`t_00`$) infinitesimally, so that the collisions at $`t_0`$ occur at infinitesimally different moments. By applying the collision laws to the arising finite sequence of collisions, (the finiteness follows from Theorem 1 of \[B-F-K(1998)\]) we see that the post-collision velocities are fully determined by the time– ordering of the considered collisions. Therefore, the collection of all possible time-orderings of these collisions gives rise to a finite family of continuations of the trajectory beyond $`t_0`$. They are called the trajectory branches. It is quite clear that similar statements can be said regarding the evolution of a trajectory through a multiple collision in reverse time. Furthermore, it is also obvious that for any given phase point $`x_0𝕄`$ there are two, $`\omega `$-high trees $`𝒯_+`$ and $`𝒯_{}`$ such that $`𝒯_+`$ ($`𝒯_{}`$) describes all the possible continuations of the positive (negative) trajectory $`S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x_0`$ ($`S^{(\mathrm{},0]}x_0`$). (For the definitions of trees and for some of their applications to billiards, cf. the beginning of §5 in \[K-S-Sz(1992)\].) It is also clear that all possible continuations (branches) of the whole trajectory $`S^{(\mathrm{},\mathrm{})}x_0`$ can be uniquely described by all possible pairs $`(B_{},B_+)`$ of infinite branches of the trees $`𝒯_{}`$ and $`𝒯_+`$ ($`B_{}𝒯_{},B_+𝒯_+`$).

Since, in the case of double collisions, there is no unique continuation of the trajectories, we need to make a clear distinction between the set of reflections $`𝒮^+`$ supplied with the outgoing velocity $`v^+`$, and the set of reflections $`𝒮^{}`$ supplied with the incoming velocity $`v^{}`$. For typical phase points $`x^+𝒮^+`$ the forward trajectory $`S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x^+`$ is non-singular and uniquely defined, and analogous statement holds true for typical phase points $`x^{}𝒮^{}`$ and the backward trajectory $`S^{(\mathrm{},0]}x^{}`$. For a more detailed exposition of singularities, the reader is kindly referred to §2 of \[K-S-Sz(1990)\].

Finally, we note that the trajectory of the phase point $`x_0`$ has exactly two branches, provided that $`S^tx_0`$ hits a singularity for a single value $`t=t_0`$, and the phase point $`S^{t_0}x_0`$ does not lie on the intersection of more than one singularity manifolds. (In this case we say that the trajectory of $`x_0`$ has a “single singularity”.)

### 2.4 Neutral Subspaces, Advance, and Sufficiency

Consider a nonsingular trajectory segment $`S^{[a,b]}x`$. Suppose that $`a`$ and $`b`$ are not moments of collision.

###### Definition 2.4.1

The neutral space $`𝒩_0(S^{[a,b]}x)`$ of the trajectory segment $`S^{[a,b]}x`$ at time zero ($`a<0<b`$) is defined by the following formula:

$`𝒩_0(S^{[a,b]}x)=\{W𝒵:(\delta >0)\text{s. t.}\alpha (\delta ,\delta )`$
$`p\left(S^a(Q(x)+\alpha W,V(x))\right)=p(S^ax)\text{ and }p\left(S^b(Q(x)+\alpha W,V(x))\right)=p(S^bx)\},`$
where $`p(Q,V)=:V`$ is the projection onto the velocity sphere for any $`(Q,V)𝕄`$.

(The formula for the tangent space $`𝒵`$ can be found in (2.2.4).)

It is known (see (3) in §3 of \[S-Ch (1987)\]) that $`𝒩_0(S^{[a,b]}x)`$ is a linear subspace of $`𝒵`$ indeed, and $`V(x)𝒩_0(S^{[a,b]}x)`$. The neutral space $`𝒩_t(S^{[a,b]}x)`$ of the segment $`S^{[a,b]}x`$ at time $`t[a,b]`$ is defined as follows:

$$𝒩_t(S^{[a,b]}x)=𝒩_0\left(S^{[at,bt]}(S^tx)\right).$$
$`\mathrm{2.4.2}`$
It is clear that the neutral space $`𝒩_t(S^{[a,b]}x)`$ can be canonically identified with $`𝒩_0(S^{[a,b]}x)`$ by the usual identification of the tangent spaces of $``$ along the trajectory $`S^{(\mathrm{},\mathrm{})}x`$ (see, for instance, §2 of \[K-S-Sz(1990)\]).

Finally, the neutral space $`𝒩_0\left(S^{[a,\mathrm{})}x\right)`$ of an unbounded trajectory segment $`S^{[a,\mathrm{})}x`$ is defined as the limiting space

$$\underset{b\mathrm{}}{lim}𝒩_0\left(S^{[a,b]}x\right)=\left\{𝒩_0\left(S^{[a,b]}x\right)\right|b>a\},$$

and the definitions of $`𝒩_0\left(S^{(\mathrm{},b]}x\right)`$ and $`𝒩_0\left(S^{(\mathrm{},\mathrm{})}x\right)`$ are analogous limits.

Our next definition is that of the advance. Consider a non-singular orbit segment $`S^{[a,b]}x`$ with the symbolic collision sequence $`\mathrm{\Sigma }=(\sigma _1,\mathrm{},\sigma _n)`$ ($`n1`$). This means the following: For $`k=1,\mathrm{},n`$ the symbol $`\sigma _k=\{i_k,j_k\}`$ ($`1i_k<j_kN`$) is an unordered pair of disk labels, so that all the collisions on the trajectory segment take place (in time ordering) between the two disks listed in $`\sigma _1,\mathrm{},\sigma _n`$, respectively. We also use the notation $`t_k`$ ($`a<t_1<\mathrm{}<t_n<b`$) for the time moment of the $`k`$th collision $`\sigma _k`$ on $`S^{[a,b]}x`$. For $`x=(Q,V)𝕄`$ and $`W𝒵`$, $`W`$ sufficiently small, denote $`T_W(Q,V):=(Q+W,V)`$.

###### Definition 2.4.3

For any $`1kn`$ and $`t[a,b]`$, the advance

$$\alpha (\sigma _k):𝒩_t(S^{[a,b]}x)$$

of the collision $`\sigma _k`$ is the unique linear extension of the linear functional $`\alpha (\sigma _k)`$ defined in a sufficiently small neighborhood of the origin of $`𝒩_t(S^{[a,b]}x)`$ in the following way:

$$\alpha (\sigma _k)(W):=t_k(x)t_k(S^tT_WS^tx).$$

It is now time to bring up the basic notion of sufficiency (or, sometimes it is also called hyperbolicity) of a trajectory (segment). This is the utmost important necessary condition for the proof of the fundamental theorem for semi-dispersive billiards, see Condition (ii) of Theorem 3.6 and Definition 2.12 in \[K-S-Sz(1990)\].

###### Definition 2.4.4

###### Definition 2.4.5

The phase point $`x𝕄`$ with at most one singularity is said to be sufficient if and only if its whole trajectory $`S^{(\mathrm{},\mathrm{})}x`$ is sufficient, which means, by definition, that some of its bounded segments $`S^{[a,b]}x`$ are sufficient.

In the case of an orbit $`S^{(\mathrm{},\mathrm{})}x`$ with a single singularity, sufficiency means that both branches of $`S^{(\mathrm{},\mathrm{})}x`$ are sufficient.

### 2.5 No accumulation (of collisions) in finite time

By the results of Vaserstein \[V(1979)\], Galperin \[G(1981)\] and Burago-Ferleger-Kononenko \[B-F-K(1998)\], in a semi-dispersive billiard flow there can only be finitely many collisions in finite time intervals, see Theorem 1 in \[B-F-K(1998)\]. Thus, the dynamics is well defined as long as the trajectory does not hit more than one boundary components at the same time.

### 2.6 Collision graphs

Let $`S^{[a,b]}x`$ be a nonsingular, finite trajectory segment with the collisions $`\sigma _1,\mathrm{},\sigma _n`$ listed in time order. (Each $`\sigma _k`$ is an unordered pair $`(i,j)`$ of different labels $`i,j\{1,2,\mathrm{},N\}`$.) The graph $`𝒢=(𝒱,)`$ with vertex set $`𝒱=\{1,2,\mathrm{},N\}`$ and set of edges $`=\{\sigma _1,\mathrm{},\sigma _n\}`$ is called the collision graph of the orbit segment $`S^{[a,b]}x`$.

### 2.7 Slim sets

We are going to summarize the basic properties of codimension-two subsets $`A`$ of a smooth manifold $`M`$. Since these subsets $`A`$ are just those negligible in our dynamical discussions, we shall call them slim. As to a broader exposition of the issues, see \[E(1978)\] or §2 of \[K-S-Sz(1991)\].

Note that the dimension $`dimA`$ of a separable metric space $`A`$ is one of the three classical notions of topological dimension: the covering (Čech-Lebesgue), the small inductive (Menger-Urysohn), or the large inductive (Brouwer-Čech) dimension. As it is known from general topology, all of them are the same for separable metric spaces.

###### Definition 2.7.1

A subset $`A`$ of $`M`$ is called slim if and only if $`A`$ can be covered by a countable family of codimension-two (i. e. at least two) closed sets of $`\mu `$–measure zero, where $`\mu `$ is a smooth measure on $`M`$. (Cf. Definition 2.12 of \[K-S-Sz(1991)\].)

###### Property 2.7.2

The collection of all slim subsets of $`M`$ is a $`\sigma `$-ideal, that is, countable unions of slim sets and arbitrary subsets of slim sets are also slim.

###### Lemma 2.7.3

A subset $`AM`$ is slim if and only if for every $`xA`$ there exists an open neighborhood $`U`$ of $`x`$ in $`M`$ such that $`UA`$ is slim. (Locality, cf. Lemma 2.14 of \[K-S-Sz(1991)\].)

###### Property 2.7.4

A closed subset $`AM`$ is slim if and only if $`\mu (A)=0`$ and $`dimAdimM2`$.

###### Property 2.7.5 (Integrability)

If $`AM_1\times M_2`$ is a closed subset of the product of two manifolds, and for every $`xM_1`$ the set

$$A_x=\{yM_2:(x,y)A\}$$

is slim in $`M_2`$, then $`A`$ is slim in $`M_1\times M_2`$.

The following lemmas characterize the codimension-one and codimension-two sets.

###### Lemma 2.7.6

For any closed subset $`SM`$ the following three conditions are equivalent:

(See Theorem 1.8.13 and Problem 1.8.E of \[E(1978)\].)

###### Lemma 2.7.7

For any subset $`SM`$ the condition $`dimSdimM1`$ is equivalent to $`\text{int}S=\mathrm{}`$. (See Theorem 1.8.10 of \[E(1978)\].)

We recall an elementary, but important lemma (Lemma 4.15 of \[K-S-Sz(1991)\]). Let $`R_2`$ be the set of phase points $`x𝕄𝕄`$ such that the trajectory $`S^{(\mathrm{},\mathrm{})}x`$ has more than one singularities.

###### Lemma 2.7.8

The set $`R_2`$ is a countable union of codimension-two smooth sub-manifolds of $`M`$ and, being such, it is slim.

The next lemma establishes the most important property of slim sets which gives us the fundamental geometric tool to connect the open ergodic components of billiard flows.

###### Lemma 2.7.9

If $`M`$ is connected, then the complement $`MA`$ of a slim set $`AM`$ necessarily contains an arc-wise connected, $`G_\delta `$ set of full measure. (See Property 3 of §4.1 in \[K-S-Sz(1989)\]. The $`G_\delta `$ sets are, by definition, the countable intersections of open sets.)

## §3. The Inductive Proof of the Theorem
(Using the results of §4–8)

In this section we prove our theorem by using an induction on the number of disks $`N`$ ($`2`$). Consider therefore an $`N`$-disk billiard flow

$$(𝕄_{\stackrel{}{m},r},\{S^t\}_t,\mu _{\stackrel{}{m},r})=(𝕄,\{S^t\}_t,\mu )$$

in the standard unit $`2`$-torus $`𝕋^2=^2/^2`$ with the $`N+1`$-tuple of outer geometric parameters $`(m_1,\mathrm{},m_N;r)`$, for which even the interior of the phase space is connected, see the previous section.

As Corollary 3.24 and Lemma 4.2 of \[Sim(2002)\] state, there exists a positive integer $`C(N)`$ with the following property: If the non-singular trajectory segment $`S^{[0,T]}x_0`$ of $`(𝕄,\{S^t\}_t,\mu )`$ has at least $`C(N)`$ consecutive, connected collision graphs, then there exists an open neighborhood $`U_0`$ of $`x_0`$ in $`𝕄`$ and a proper (i. e. of codimension at least one) algebraic set $`N_0U_0`$ such that $`S^{[0,T]}y`$ is sufficient (or, geometrically hyperbolic, see §2) for all $`yU_0N_0`$.

Consider the $`(2d3)`$-dimensional, compact cell complex $`𝒮^+`$ of singular reflections $`x=(q,v^+)𝕄`$ supplied with the outgoing (post collision) velocity $`v^+`$, so that the positive orbit is well defined, as long as there is no other singularity on $`S^{(0,\mathrm{})}x`$. Recall that, as it follows from Lemma 4.1 of \[K-S-Sz(1990)\], the set of phase points with more than one singularities is a countable union of smooth sub-manifolds with codimension at least two (see (2.7.8) above), thus the positive semi-trajectory $`S^{(0,\mathrm{})}x`$ is non-singular for $`\nu `$-almost every $`x𝒮^+`$, where $`\nu `$ denotes the hypersurface measure on $`𝒮^+`$. Also recall that $`2d1=4N5`$ is the dimension of the phase space $`𝕄`$.

Let $`\mathrm{\Sigma }=(\sigma _1,\mathrm{},\sigma _n)`$ be any fixed symbolic collision sequence with at least $`C(N)`$ consecutive, connected collision graphs, i. e. a so called $`C(N)`$-rich symbolic sequence in the sense of Key Lemma 4.1 and Remark 4.1/b of \[S-Sz(1999)\]. Let, moreover, $`x_0𝒮^+`$ be an element of a $`(2d3)`$-dimensional, open cell $`C`$ of $`𝒮^+`$ (that is, $`x_0`$ does not belong to the $`(2d4)`$-skeleton of the $`(2d3)`$-dimensional cell complex $`𝒮^+`$) with a non-singular trajectory segment $`S^{[0,T]}x_0`$, for which the symbolic collision sequence is the given $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$. We will need the following generalization of Key Lemma 4.1 of \[S-Sz(1999)\], which claims that the exceptional algebraic set $`N_0`$ from above (containing all phase points $`yU_0`$ around $`x_0`$ for which $`S^{[0,T]}y`$ is not sufficient) cannot even locally coincide with the invariant hull of $`𝒮^+`$.

Here we briefly recall the definition of a (compact) cell complex $`K_n`$ (of dimension $`n`$) from topology. It is defined by an induction on the dimension $`n`$, which is a non-negative integer. A zero-dimensional cell complex $`K_0`$ is a finite space with the discrete topology. For a positive integer $`n`$, an $`n`$-dimensional cell complex $`K_n`$ is a compact, metrizable space with a given closed subset $`K_{n1}`$ (called the ($`n1`$)-skeleton of $`K_n`$) so that $`K_nK_{n1}=_{i=1}^kC_i`$, where $`C_1,\mathrm{},C_k`$ ($`k1`$) are mutually disjoint open sets (the so called $`n`$-cells) supplied with a continuous map $`\varphi _i:\overline{B}^nK_n`$, so that

(i) $`\varphi _i|B^n:B^nC_i`$ is a homeomorphism;

(ii) $`\varphi _i`$ maps the boundary $`B^n`$ into the ($`n1`$)-skeleton $`K_{n1}`$ (the so called gluing map).

(Here $`\overline{B}^n`$ is the closed, unit $`n`$-ball, and $`B^n`$ is its interior. The map $`\varphi _i|B^n:B^nC_i`$ is often called the coordinate chart for the open $`n`$-cell $`C_i`$.)

In our examples the coordinate charts of the cells are smooth, and our compact cell complexes turn out to be finite unions of smooth submanifolds of a euclidean space.

###### Proposition 3.1

For almost every $`(N+1)`$-tuple $`(m_1,\mathrm{},m_N;r)`$ of the outer geometric parameters the set

$$\{yU_0C:S^{[0,T]}y\text{ is not sufficient}\}$$
$`3.2`$
has an empty interior in $`C`$. (It is actually a finite union of proper, real analytic subsets of $`C`$.)

### Proof (A brief outline)

Since this generalization of Key Lemma 4.1 of \[S-Sz(1999)\] is a direct application of the proof of that lemma (in which application all steps of the mentioned proof need to be repeated with only minor changes), hereby we will only briefly sketch the proof by mainly shedding light on the important steps, during which we point out the differences between the original proof of Key Lemma 4.1 and its modification that proves Proposition 3.1 above. This sketch of the proof will be subdivided into $`12`$ points, as follows.

$`1^o`$ In order to facilitate the use of arithmetics for the kinetic variables, we lift the entire system to the universal covering space $`^2`$ of $`𝕋^2`$ by introducing the notion of adjustment vectors, see Propositions 3.1 and 3.3 of \[S-Sz(1999)\].

$`2^o`$ We need to complexify the system, to introduce the algebraically independent initial variables, the polynomial equations defining the algebraic dynamics, the algebraic functions in terms of the initial kinetic variables, and the tower of fields made up by all kinetic variables of orbit segments with a symbolic collision sequence $`(\sigma _1,\mathrm{},\sigma _n;a_1,\mathrm{},a_n)`$, along the lines of pp. 49–54 of \[S-Sz(1999)\].

$`3^o`$ We should introduce the complex neutral space $`𝒩(\omega )`$, just as in (3.21) of \[S-Sz(1999)\]. By dropping the factorization with respect to uniform spatial translations, the condition of sufficiency now becomes $`\text{dim}𝒩(\omega )=\nu +1=3`$.

$`4^o`$ Just for technical reasons, the reciprocal $`1/L`$ of the size $`L`$ of the container $`𝕋_L^2=^2/L^2`$ (containing disks with unit radius) is replaced by the radius of disks $`r`$ moving in the unit torus $`^2/^2`$.

$`5^o`$ By using the defining equation of the actual singularity cell $`C`$, we eliminate one variable out of the initial ones to gain again algebraic independence, despite considering singular phase points on $`C`$. We express the sufficiency of $`\omega =S^{[0,T]}x`$ ($`xC`$) in terms of the remaining, algebraically independent initial variables. Non-sufficiency again proves to be equivalent to the simultaneous vanishing of finitely many polynomials, in the spirit of Lemma 4.2 from \[S-Sz(1999)\].

$`6^o`$ One reformulates the claim of Proposition 3.1 in terms of the initial kinetic variables. The negation of that assertion proves to be the identical vanishing of certain algebraic functions, see also Lemma 4.2 and its proof in \[S-Sz(1999)\].

$`7^o`$ Use Property (A) (the technical property defined in 3.31 of \[S-Sz(1999)\]) and the concept of combinatorial richness of the symbolic sequence of $`S^{[0,T]}x`$ (of containing at least $`C(N)`$ consecutive, connected collision graphs), just like in Key Lemma 4.1 and Remark 4.1/b in \[S-Sz(1999\].

$`8^o`$ Carry out an inductive proof for Proposition 3.1 above. The induction goes on with respect to the number of disks $`N`$ ($`2`$), and this induction is independent of the outer induction to be carried out to prove the Theorem. The statement is obviously true for $`N=2`$. We assume $`N>2`$ and the induction hypothesis, and perform an indirect proof for the induction step by assuming the negation of Proposition 3.1 for the complexified $`N`$-disk system. By using the combinatorial richness formulated in Key Lemma 4.1 of \[S-Sz(1999)\], one selects a label $`i\{1,2,\mathrm{},N\}`$ for the substitution $`m_i=0`$, along the lines of Lemma 4.43 of \[S-Sz(1999\]. The substitution $`m_i=0`$ results in a derived scheme $`(\mathrm{\Sigma }^{},𝒜^{})`$ by also preserving Property (A), see Definition 4.11, Main Lemma 4.21, Remark 4.22, and Corollary 4.35 of \[S-Sz(1999\].

$`9^o`$ Describe non-sufficiency in the case $`m_i=0`$ along the lines of Lemma 4.9 from \[S-Sz(1999\].

$`10^o`$ From the indirect assumption one obtains that the induction hypothesis is false for the $`(N1)`$-disk system, just like in Lemma 4.40 of \[S-Sz(1999)\].

$`11^o`$ From the complex version of the analogue of Key Lemma 4.1 one switches to the real case, just as in the fourth paragraph on page 88 of \[S-Sz(1999\].

$`12^o`$ From the real version of the analogue of Key Lemma 4.1 one obtains Proposition 3.1 of this article by dropping a null set of $`(N+1)`$-tuples $`(m_1,\mathrm{},m_N;r)`$ of outer geometric parameters, precisely as in the first paragraph of page 93 of \[S-Sz(1999)\]. ∎

By the results of Vaserstein \[V(1979)\], Galperin \[G(1981)\], and Burago-Ferleger-Kononenko \[B-F-K(1998)\], in a semi-dispersive billiard flow there can only be finitely many collisions in finite time, see Theorem 1 of \[B-F-K(1998)\], see also 2.5 above. Thus the dynamics is well defined, as long as the trajectory does not hit more than one boundary components at the same time.

Lemma 4.1 of \[K-S-Sz(1990)\] claims that the set

$$\mathrm{\Delta }_2=\{x𝕄:\text{ at least }2\text{ singularities on }S^{}x\}$$

is a countable union of smooth sub-manifolds of $`𝕄`$ with codimension at least two. Especially, the set $`\mathrm{\Delta }_2`$ is slim, i. e. negligible in our considerations, see also Lemma 2.7.8 above.

By using the results of §4–8, we are now going to prove the theorem by an induction on the number of disks $`N`$ ($`2`$). For $`N=2`$ the result is proved by Sinai in \[Sin(1970)\].

Suppose now that $`N>2`$, and the theorem has been proved for every number of disks $`N^{}<N`$. Theorem 5.1 of \[Sim(1992-A)\] together with the slimness of the set $`\mathrm{\Delta }_2`$ of doubly singular phase points assert that there exists a slim subset $`S_1𝕄`$ of the phase space such that for every $`x𝕄S_1`$ the phase point $`x`$ has at most one singularity on its trajectory $`S^{}x`$, and each branch of $`S^{}x`$ contains infinitely many consecutive, connected collision graphs. By Corollary 3.24 and Lemma 4.2 of \[Sim(2002)\], there exists a locally finite (and, therefore, countable) family of codimension-one, smooth, exceptional sub-manifolds $`J_i𝕄`$ such that for every phase point $`x_iJ_iS_1`$ the trajectory $`S^{}x`$ has at most one singularity and it is sufficient. According to the celebrated Theorem on Local Ergodicity for algebraic semi-dispersive billiards by Bálint–Chernov–Szász–Tóth \[B-Ch-Sz-T (2002)\] (see also Theorem 5 in \[S-Ch(1987)\] and Corollary 3.12 in \[K-S-Sz(1990)\]) an open neighborhood $`U_xx`$ of such a phase point $`x_iJ_iS_1`$ belongs to one ergodic component of the billiard flow $`(𝕄,\{S^t\}_t,\mu )`$, therefore this billiard flow has (at most countably many) open ergodic components $`C_1,C_2,\mathrm{}`$. We note that Theorem 5.1 of \[Sim(1992-A)\] uses the induction hypothesis!

We carry out an indirect proof for the induction step. Assume that, contrary to the assertion of the theorem, the number of the (open) ergodic components $`C_1,C_2,\mathrm{}`$ is at least two. The main question is how different ergodic components $`C_i`$ and $`C_j`$ can be separated in $`𝕄`$?

The above argument showed that, in the case of more than one ergodic components $`C_i`$, there must exist a codimension-one, smooth (actually, analytic) exceptional sub-manifold $`J𝕄𝕄`$, a non-singular phase point $`x_0J`$, and an open ball neighborhood $`B_0=B_0(x_0,ϵ_0)𝕄𝕄`$ of $`x_0`$ with the following properties:

(0) The pair of sets $`(B_0,B_0J)`$ is analytically diffeomorphic to the standard pair $`(^{2d1},^{2d2})`$, where $`2d1=\text{dim}𝕄`$, and the two connected components $`B^1`$ and $`B^2`$ of $`B_0J`$ belong to distinct ergodic components $`C_i`$ and $`C_j`$;

(1) For every $`xB_0`$ the semi-orbit $`S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x`$ is sufficient (hyperbolic) if and only if $`xJ`$;

(2) The dimension $`\text{dim}𝒩_0(S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x_0)`$ of the neutral space

$$𝒩_0\left(S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x_0\right)=\underset{T}{}𝒩_0\left(S^{[0,T]}x_0\right)$$

of the semi-orbit $`S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x_0`$ (see §2) is the minimum possible value for all separating manifolds $`J`$ and phase points $`xJ`$. Then, by the upper semi-continuity of this dimension, we can assume that the neighborhood $`B_0`$ is already small enough to ensure that

$$\text{dim}𝒩_0(S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x)=\text{dim}𝒩_0(S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x_0)\text{ for all }xJB_0;$$

(3) There exists a countable union $`S_J`$ of proper (i. e. of codimension at least one) sub-manifolds of $`J`$, such that for every $`xJS_J`$ the positive orbit $`S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x`$ is non-singular, and $`x_0JS_J`$.

We note here the simple way how this last property can be achieved. Lemma 4.1 of \[K-S-Sz(1990)\] claims that two singularity manifolds corresponding to different singularities on a trajectory can not even locally coincide. (Their intersection has codimension at least $`2`$.) Thus, there are two possibilities for our exceptional manifold $`J`$: Either the set $`S_J`$ of phase points $`xJ`$ with a singular forward orbit $`S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x`$ has an empty interior in $`J`$, or not. In the first case we are done, for in that case the subset $`S_J`$ of $`J`$ is actually a countable union of some proper, smooth submanifolds of $`J`$. In the second case, however, a small open set $`\mathrm{}GJ`$ happens to have the property that every phase point $`xG`$ experiences a (simple) singularity at time $`t(x)>0`$ on its forward orbit, the time moment $`t(x)`$ being a smooth function of $`x`$. Then, with some value $`t_0>sup\left\{t(x)\right|xG\}`$, we can take $`S^{t_0}(G)=J_0`$ as a new exceptional manifold in such a way that the mapping $`S^{t_0}`$ be smooth on $`G`$ by taking the appropriate trajectory branches of $`S^{t_0}x`$ for $`xG`$. After switching to $`J_0`$ from $`J`$, almost every phase point $`xJ_0`$ will have no singularity on its forward orbit, according to Lemma 4.1 of \[K-S-Sz(1990)\].

We say that $`J`$ is a “separating manifold”. The results of §4–8 assert that such a separating manifold $`J`$ does not exist. This contradiction finishes the proof of the theorem.

## §4. Non-Existence of Separating $`J`$-Manifolds.
Part A: The Neutral Sector Opens Up

As we have seen in §3, the only obstacle on the road of successfully proving (by induction) the ergodicity of almost every hard disk system $`(𝕄,\{S^t\}_t,\mu )`$ is the following situation: There exists a codimension-one, smooth (actually, analytic) sub-manifold $`J𝕄𝕄`$, a phase point $`x_0J`$, and an open ball neighborhood $`B_0=B_0(x_0,ϵ_0)𝕄𝕄`$ of $`x_0`$ in $`𝕄`$ with the properties (0)—(3) listed at the end of the previous section.

The assumed minimality of

$$\text{dim}𝒩_0(S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x)=\text{dim}𝒩_0(S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x_0)\text{ for all }xJB_0$$
$`4.1`$
will have profound geometric consequences in the upcoming sections.

First of all, we need to introduce a few notions and notations. Let $`w_0𝒩_0(S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x_0)`$ be a unit neutral vector of $`x_0`$ with the additional property $`w_0,v_0=0`$, where $`v_0`$ is the velocity component of the phase point $`x_0=(q_0,v_0)`$. For any pair of real numbers $`(\tau _1,\tau _2)`$ ($`|\tau _i|<ϵ_1`$, $`ϵ_1>0`$ is fixed, chosen sufficiently small) we define $`T_{\tau _1,\tau _2}x_0`$ as the phase point

$$T_{\tau _1,\tau _2}x_0=(q_0+\tau _1w_0,(1+\tau _2^2)^{1/2}(v_0+\tau _2w_0)).$$
$`4.2`$
It follows immediately from the properties of the exceptional manifold $`J`$ that

$$T_{\tau _1,\tau _2}x_0JB_0\text{ for }|\tau _i|<ϵ_1,$$
$`4.3`$
as long as the upper bound $`ϵ_1`$ is selected small enough.

## Basic Properties of $`S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x`$ for $`x=T_{\tau _1,\tau _2}x_0`$

We want to investigate the positive semi-trajectories $`S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x`$ of the phase points $`x=T_{\tau _1,\tau _2}x_0JB_0`$, $`|\tau _i|<ϵ_1`$. The key point in their investigation is that both translations by the vectors $`\tau _1w_0`$ and $`\tau _2w_0`$ (one for the configuration, the other for the velocity) are neutral for $`S^{}x_0`$, i. e. they do not cause any change in the velocity history of the semi-trajectory.

###### Lemma 4.4 (Lemma on the \`\`Neutral Trapezoid'')

Assume that $`|\tau _i|<ϵ_1`$, $`\tau _1\tau _20`$, $`t>0`$. Introduce the notations $`t^{}=(1+\tau _2^2)^{1/2}t`$, $`x^{}=S^t^{}x_0=(q_0^{},v_0^{})`$, $`(w_0^{},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})=\left(DS^t^{}\right)(w_0,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})`$, $`\tau _1^{}=\tau _1+t^{}\tau _2`$. Then the phase point $`S^tx`$ ($`x=T_{\tau _1,\tau _2}x_0`$) is equal to

$$T_{\tau _1^{},\tau _2}x^{}=(q_0^{}+\tau _1^{}w_0^{},(1+\tau _2^2)^{1/2}(v_0^{}+\tau _2w_0^{})),$$

provided that the so called “neutral trapezoid”

$$NT(x_0,w_0,\tau _1,\tau _2,t)=\{S^t^{}\left(T_{\tau _1^{},\tau _2^{}}x_0\right):|\tau _i^{}||\tau _i|,\tau _i^{}\tau _i0,\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}0}t^{}t\}$$
$`4.5`$
is free of singularities, i. e. of multiple or tangential collisions.

### Remark 4.6

It should be noted, however, that — when defining the translates

$$T_{s,\tau _2}x^{}=(q_0^{}+sw_0^{},(1+\tau _2^2)^{1/2}(v_0^{}+\tau _2w_0^{}))$$

($`0s\tau _1^{}`$) — we may hit the boundary of the phase space, which means that the time moment of a collision reaches the value zero. In that case, in order to continue these translations beyond $`s`$, by definition, we reflect both the direction vector $`w_0^{}`$ of the spatial variation and the velocity $`(1+\tau _2^2)^{1/2}(v_0^{}+\tau _2w_0^{})`$ with respect to the tangent hyperplane of the boundary $``$ of the configuration space at the considered point of reflection. Although we use this reflection in our definition of $`T_{s,\tau _2}x^{}`$, in order to keep our notations simpler, we do not indicate the arising change in $`w_0^{}`$ and $`v_0^{}+\tau _2w_0^{}`$ in the formulas. This convention will not cause any confusion in the future.

### Proof of Lemma 4.4

The whole point is that — as long as we do not hit any singularity — there is a neutral $`^2`$-action $`A_{\alpha ,\beta }`$ ($`(\alpha ,\beta )^2`$) lurking in the background:

$$\{\begin{array}{cc}A_{\alpha ,\beta }x_0=S^\alpha \left(T_{\beta ,0}x_0\right),\hfill & \\ A_{\alpha ,\beta }\left(A_{\alpha ^{},\beta ^{}}x_0\right)=S^{\alpha +\alpha ^{}}\left(T_{\beta +\beta ^{},0}x_0\right)\hfill & \end{array}$$
$`4.7`$
acting on the sheet $`\{A_{\alpha ,\beta }x_0:(\alpha ,\beta )^2\}`$, where the phrase “neutral” means that there is no change in the velocity process (i. e. no change in the collision normal vectors) during this perturbation. There is no problem with the neutrality and smoothness of this action $`A_{\alpha ,\beta }`$ as long as we know that the rectangle

$$\{A_{\alpha ^{},\beta ^{}}x_0:|\alpha ^{}||\alpha |,|\beta ^{}||\beta |,\alpha \alpha ^{}0,\beta \beta ^{}0\}$$

does not hit any singularity. The neutral trapezoid $`NT=NT(x_0,w_0,\tau _1,\tau _2,t)`$ of (4.5) can be expressed in terms of the $`A_{\alpha ,\beta }`$-action as follows:

$`NT(x_0,w_0,\tau _1,\tau _2,t)=\{T_{0,\lambda }A_{\alpha ,\beta }x_0:\mathrm{\hspace{0.33em}0}\alpha t^{},`$ $`4.8`$
$`|\beta ||\tau _1|+\alpha |\tau _2|,|\lambda ||\tau _2|,\lambda \tau _i0,\beta \tau _i0\}.`$
The statement of Lemma 4.4 is then easily provided by the commutativity and neutrality of the $`A_{\alpha ,\beta }`$-action. ∎

Let $`b>0`$ be a suitably big number so that

$$\text{dim}𝒩_0\left(S^{[0,b]}x_0\right)=\text{dim}𝒩_0\left(S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x_0\right).$$
$`4.9`$
(The number $`b`$ is assumed to be not a moment of collision.) By further strengthening (4.1), we may assume that the threshold $`b>0`$ is already chosen so big and the radius $`ϵ_0`$ of the ball $`B_0=B(x_0,ϵ_0)`$ is selected so small that for every phase point $`xJB_0`$

$$\text{dim}𝒩_0\left(S^{[0,b]}x\right)=\text{dim}𝒩_0\left(S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x\right)=\text{dim}𝒩_0(S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x_0),$$
$`4.10`$
and, on the other hand, $`\text{dim}𝒩_0\left(S^{[0,b]}x\right)=1`$ for all $`xB_0J`$. Then, by selecting $`ϵ_1>0`$ sufficiently small, we may assume that for $`|\tau _i|<ϵ_1`$, $`\tau _1\tau _20`$, the translated phase point $`x=T_{\tau _1,\tau _2}x_0`$ is in $`JB_0`$.

###### Key Lemma 4.11

For a typically selected phase point $`x_0J`$ (more precisely, apart from a first category subset of $`J`$) the following holds true:

For every pair of real numbers $`(\tau _1,\tau _2)`$ with $`|\tau _i|<ϵ_1`$, $`\tau _1\tau _20`$, the positive trajectory $`S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x`$ of $`x=T_{\tau _1,\tau _2}x_0`$ ($`JB_0`$) does not hit any singularity.

### Proof

We will argue by the absurd. Suppose that $`S^t\left(T_{\tau _1,\tau _2}x_0\right)`$ hits a singularity at time moment $`t=t_0`$ ($`>0`$). Due to the smoothness of the orbit segments $`S^{[0,b]}\left(T_{\tau _1,\tau _2}x_0\right)`$, the number $`t_0`$ is necessarily greater than $`b`$. The considered singularity can be one of the following two types:

### Type I. Tangential collision between the disks $`i`$ and $`j`$ at time $`t=t_0`$

To simplify the notations, we assume that $`\tau _i0`$, $`i=1,2`$. Let us understand the relationship between the curve $`\gamma (s)=T_{\tau _1+s,\tau _2}x_0`$ ($`|s|<<1`$) and the semi-invariant hull $`_{t<0}S^t(𝒮)`$ of the considered tangential singularity $`𝒮`$. Due to the doubly neutral nature of the perturbations $`T_{\tau _1,\tau _2}x_0`$, for the parameter values $`s<0`$ the disks $`i`$ and $`j`$ must avoid each other (pass by each other) for $`tt_0`$. Otherwise, if these disks collided on the orbit of $`\gamma (s)`$ near $`t=t_0`$ for $`s<0`$, then the further neutral perturbations $`\gamma (s)`$ with $`s0`$ would not set these disks apart near $`t=t_0`$, due to the neutral nature of the perturbations $`T_{\tau _1+s,\tau _2}x_0`$. Thanks to the neutrality of the perturbations $`\gamma (s)=T_{\tau _1+s,\tau _2}x_0`$ ($`|s|<<1`$), the smallest distance $`d(s)`$ ($`s<0`$) between the disks $`i`$ and $`j`$ flying by each other around the time $`tt_0`$ is an (inhomogeneous) linear function of the perturbation parameter $`s`$ for $`s<0`$. Since, according to our assumption, for the value $`s=0`$ the curve $`\gamma (s)`$ hits $`_{t<0}S^t(𝒮)`$, we get that the constant derivative $`d^{}(s)`$ has to be negative for $`s<0`$, thus the curve $`\gamma (s)`$ is transversal to the manifold $`_{t<0}S^t(𝒮)`$ at $`\gamma (0)`$. Since further perturbations of $`\gamma (s)`$ with $`s>0`$ cause the normal vector of the arising $`(i,j)`$-collision (at time $`tt_0`$) to rotate, the perturbation direction vector $`w_0`$ turns out to be no longer neutral with respect to the new collision. Thus, the above mentioned transversality “kills” the neutral vector $`w_0𝒩_0(S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x)=𝒩_0(S^{[0,b]}x)`$ ($`x=T_{\tau _1,\tau _2}x_0=\gamma (0)`$) by lowering the dimension of $`𝒩_0\left(S^{[0,\mathrm{})}\gamma (s)\right)`$ for $`s>0`$. (We note that new neutral vectors cannot appear because of the stable nature of $`𝒩_0\left(S^{[0,b]}\gamma (s)\right)`$.) The latest statement, however, contradicts to the assumed minimality of $`\text{dim}𝒩_0\left(S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x\right)=\text{dim}𝒩_0\left(S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x_0\right)`$, see also (4.1) and the text surrounding it.

### Type II. A multiple collision singularity (of type $`(i,j)`$$`(j,k)`$) at $`t=t_0`$

We begin with an important remark. The multiple collision singularity of type $`(i,j)`$$`(j,k)`$ means that on each side of the singularity a finite sequence of alternating collisions $`(i,j)`$ and $`(j,k)`$ takes place in such a way that on one side of the singularity this finite sequence starts with $`(i,j)`$, while on the other side it starts with $`(j,k)`$. This is how a trajectory bifurcates into two different “branches”, see §§2.3 above about the notion of trajectory branches. Purely to simplify the notations, hereby we are presenting a study of this type of singularity in the case when both collision sequences are made up by two collisions. This is not a restriction of generality, but merely a simplification of the notations.

Just as above, we again consider the curve $`\gamma (s)=T_{\tau _1+s,\tau _2}x_0`$ ($`|s|<<1`$) and its relationship with the invariant hull $`_tS^t(𝒮)`$ of the considered double collision singularity $`𝒮`$. Suppose that on the side $`s<0`$ of $`_tS^t(𝒮)`$ the collision $`(i,j)=\sigma _l`$ precedes the collision $`(j,k)=\sigma _{l+1}`$. Then the derivative of the time difference $`t(\sigma _{l+1})t(\sigma _l)`$ with respect to $`s`$ (which depends on $`s`$ linearly, thanks to the neutrality of the vector $`w_0`$) at $`s=0`$ must be negative, and, therefore, the curve $`\gamma (s)`$ transversally intersects the invariant hull $`_tS^t(𝒮)`$ of the studied double singularity at the point $`\gamma (0)`$. More precisely, denote by $`v_i^{}`$, $`v_j^{}`$, and $`v_k^{}`$ the velocities of the disks $`i`$, $`j`$, $`k`$ right before the collision $`\sigma _l`$ on the trajectory of $`\gamma (s)=T_{\tau _1+s,\tau _2}x_0`$ for $`s<0`$, $`|s|<<1`$. Similarly, let $`v_i^+`$, $`v_j^+`$, and $`v_k^+=v_k^{}`$ the corresponding velocities between $`\sigma _l`$ and $`\sigma _{l+1}`$ on the orbit of the phase point $`\gamma (s)`$ for $`s<0`$, $`|s|<<1`$, and let

$$\{\begin{array}{cc}w_0^{}=(\delta q_1^{},\mathrm{},\delta q_N^{})=\left(DS^{t(\sigma _l)ϵ}(\gamma (s))\right)(w_0),\hfill & \\ w_0^+=(\delta q_1^+,\mathrm{},\delta q_N^+)=\left(DS^{t(\sigma _l)+ϵ}(\gamma (s))\right)(w_0),\hfill & \end{array}$$
$`4.12`$
for $`s<0`$, $`|s|<<1`$. By the neutrality of $`w_0^{}`$ and by the conservation of the momentum we immediately obtain

$$\{\begin{array}{cc}\delta q_i^{}\delta q_j^{}=\alpha (v_i^{}v_j^{}),\hfill & \\ \delta q_i^+\delta q_j^+=\alpha (v_i^+v_j^+),\hfill & \\ \delta q_i^+\delta q_i^{}=\alpha (v_i^+v_i^{}),\hfill & \\ \delta q_k^+=\delta q_k^{},\hfill & \end{array}$$
$`4.13`$
where $`\alpha `$ is the advance of the collision $`\sigma _l=(i,j)`$ with respect to the neutral vector $`w_0`$, see also §2. From the equations (4.13) and from the conservation of the momentum (which is obviously also true for the components $`\delta q_a`$ of neutral vectors) we obtain

$$\{\begin{array}{cc}\delta q_i^+=\delta q_i^{}+\alpha (v_i^+v_i^{}),\hfill & \\ \delta q_j^+=\delta q_j^{}+\alpha (v_j^+v_j^{}),\hfill & \\ \delta q_j^+\delta q_k^+=\beta (v_j^+v_k^+)=\delta q_j^{}\delta q_k^{}+\alpha (v_j^+v_j^{}).\hfill & \end{array}$$
$`4.14`$
Here $`\beta `$ denotes the advance of the collision $`\sigma _{l+1}=(j,k)`$ with respect to $`w_0`$.

Let us study now the quite similar phenomenon on the other side of the singularity $`_tS^t(𝒮)`$, i. e. for $`s>0`$. Since

$$𝒩_0\left(S^{[0,b]}\gamma (s)\right)=𝒩_0\left(S^{[0,b]}x_0\right)=𝒩_0\left(S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x_0\right)$$

and $`𝒩_0\left(S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x_0\right)`$ has the minimum value of all such dimensions, we obtain that $`w_0𝒩_0\left(S^{[0,\mathrm{})}\gamma (s)\right)`$. Thus, similar thing can be stated about the velocities and neutral vectors as above. Namely, denote by $`\stackrel{~}{v}_j^+`$, $`\stackrel{~}{v}_k^+`$, and $`\stackrel{~}{v}_i^+=v_i^{}`$ the velocities of the disks $`j`$, $`k`$, $`i`$ between the collisions $`\sigma _l=(j,k)`$ and $`\sigma _{l+1}=(i,j)`$ (Observe that the order of the two collisions is now inverted!) on the orbit $`S^{[0,\mathrm{})}\gamma (s)`$, $`s>0`$, $`s<<1`$. Let, moreover,

$$\stackrel{~}{w}_0^+=(\delta \stackrel{~}{q}_1^+,\mathrm{},\delta \stackrel{~}{q}_N^+)=\left(DS^{t(\sigma _l)+ϵ}(\gamma (s))\right)(w_0)$$
$`4.15`$
for $`s>0`$, $`s<<1`$, and $`\stackrel{~}{\beta }`$, $`\stackrel{~}{\alpha }`$ be the advances of the collisions $`\sigma _l=(j,k)`$, and $`\sigma _{l+1}=(i,j)`$, respectively. Then $`\delta q_j^{}\delta q_k^{}=\stackrel{~}{\beta }(v_j^{}v_k^{})`$ in the last equation of (4.14), so we get that

$$\beta (v_j^+v_k^+)=\stackrel{~}{\beta }(v_j^{}v_k^{})+\alpha (v_j^+v_j^{}).$$
$`4.16`$
By neutrality, for all orbits $`S^{[0,\mathrm{})}\gamma (s)`$ ($`|s|<<1`$) the $`(i,j)`$ collision near $`t=t_0`$ (which is either $`\sigma _l`$ or $`\sigma _{l+1}`$, depending on which side of the singularity we are) has the same normal vector $`\stackrel{}{n}_1`$ and, similarly, for all orbits $`S^{[0,\mathrm{})}\gamma (s)`$ the $`(j,k)`$ collision near $`t=t_0`$ has the same normal vector $`\stackrel{}{n}_2`$. How can we take now advantage of (4.16)? First of all, we can assume that the relative velocities $`v_j^{}v_k^{}`$ and $`v_j^+v_k^+`$ are nonzero, for each of the equations $`v_j^{}v_k^{}=0`$ and $`v_j^+v_k^+=0`$ defines a codimension-two set, which is atypical in $`J`$, so we can assume that these vectors are nonzero on the orbit of $`\gamma (0)`$ (or, equivalently, on the orbit of $`x_0`$) by typically choosing the starting phase point $`x_0`$. Secondly, by adding an appropriate scalar multiple of $`v_0`$ to the neutral vector $`w_0`$, we can achieve that $`\alpha =0`$ in (4.16), see also §2. We infer, therefore, that the relative velocities $`v_j^{}v_k^{}`$ and $`v_j^+v_k^+`$ are parallel, as long as at least one of the advances $`\beta `$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\beta }`$ is nonzero. However, $`\alpha =\beta =\stackrel{~}{\beta }=0`$ would mean that $`\delta q_i^{}=\delta q_j^{}=\delta q_k^{}`$, which is impossible, for in that case the time difference $`t(\sigma _{l+1})t(\sigma _l)`$ would not change (and, therefore, it could not tend to zero) as $`s0`$. Thus, we conclude that $`v_j^{}v_k^{}v_j^+v_k^+`$. However, the difference of these vectors is obviously parallel to the collision normal $`\stackrel{}{n}_1`$, so we get

$$v_j^{}v_k^{}\stackrel{}{n}_1.$$
$`4.17`$
A similar argument yields

$$v_i^{}v_j^{}\stackrel{}{n}_2.$$
$`4.18`$
However, the events described in (4.17–18) together define a codimension-two subset of the phase space, so we can assume that the typically selected starting phase point $`x_0J`$ is outside of all such codimension-two sub-manifolds. This finishes the proof of Main Lemma 4.11. ∎

## §5. Non-Existence of $`J`$-Manifolds.
Part B: The Weird Behavior of the $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$-limit Set

Let us study now the non-empty, compact $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$-limit set

$$\mathrm{\Omega }(x_0)=\{x_{\mathrm{}}𝕄:\text{ a sequence }t_n\mathrm{}\text{ such that }x_{\mathrm{}}=\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}S^{t_n}x_0\}$$
$`5.1`$
of the trajectory $`S^{}x_0=\{S^tx_0=x_t:t\}`$. Consider an arbitrary phase point $`x_{\mathrm{}}\mathrm{\Omega }(x_0)`$, $`x_{\mathrm{}}=lim_n\mathrm{}x_{t_n}`$, $`t_n\mathrm{}`$. Although the trajectory of $`x_{\mathrm{}}`$ may be singular, we can assume that we have properly selected and fixed a branch $`S^{(\mathrm{},\mathrm{})}x_{\mathrm{}}`$ of the trajectory of $`x_{\mathrm{}}`$ (for the notion of trajectory branches, please see §§2.3 above), so that whenever $`x_{\mathrm{}}`$ belongs to a singularity $`S^t𝒮`$, the sequence of points $`x_{t_n}`$ converges to $`x_{\mathrm{}}`$ from one side of the codimension-one sub-manifold $`S^t𝒮`$. This can be achieved by using Cantor’s diagonal method and switching to a subsequence of the sequence $`t_n\mathrm{}`$. Then for $`t`$ the phase points $`x_{t_n+t}`$ will converge as $`n\mathrm{}`$, and we will define the limit $`lim_n\mathrm{}x_{t_n+t}`$ as $`S^tx_{\mathrm{}}`$. In this way we correctly define a trajectory branch $`S^{}x_{\mathrm{}}`$ of the phase point $`x_{\mathrm{}}`$. As for the concept of trajectory branches, see §2.3.

By switching again – if necessary – to a suitable subsequence of $`t_n\mathrm{}`$, we can assume that the unit neutral vectors $`w_{t_n}=\left(DS^{t_n}(x_0)\right)(w_0)`$ converge to a (unit) neutral vector $`w_{\mathrm{}}𝒩_0(S^{}x_{\mathrm{}})`$, which is then necessarily perpendicular to the velocity $`v_{\mathrm{}}=v(x_{\mathrm{}})=(v_1^{\mathrm{}},\mathrm{},v_N^{\mathrm{}})`$ of $`x_{\mathrm{}}`$. We write

$$w_{\mathrm{}}=(\delta q_1^{\mathrm{}},\mathrm{},\delta q_N^{\mathrm{}}),x_{\mathrm{}}=(q_1^{\mathrm{}},\mathrm{},q_N^{\mathrm{}};v_1^{\mathrm{}},\mathrm{},v_N^{\mathrm{}}).$$

We would like to point out again that the well defined orbit $`S^{}x_{\mathrm{}}`$ may be singular. In the case of a multiple collision, according to what was said above, the infinitesimal time-ordering of the collisions (taking place at the same time) is determined, just as the resulting product of reflections connecting the incoming velocity $`v^{}`$ with the outgoing velocity $`v^+`$. As far as the other type of singularity — the tangential collisions — is concerned, here there are two possibilities. The first one, in which case the tangentially colliding disks $`i`$ and $`j`$ have proper collisions on the nearby approximating trajectories $`S^{}x_{t_n}`$, $`n\mathrm{}`$. The second case is when the tangentially colliding disks $`i`$ and $`j`$ pass by each other without collision on the approximating orbit $`S^{}x_{t_n}`$, $`n\mathrm{}`$. In both cases, we do not include a tangential collision in the symbolic collision sequence of $`S^{}x_{\mathrm{}}`$. In the sequel we will exclusively deal with non-tangential collisions, i. e. collisions with nonzero momentum exchange. They are called proper collisions. This note has particular implications when defining the connected components of the collision graph of the entire trajectory $`S^{}x_{\mathrm{}}`$.

### Definition 5.2

Let $`\{1,2,\mathrm{},N\}=H_1H_2\mathrm{}H_k`$ be the partition of the vertex set into the connected components of the collision graph $`𝒢\left(S^{}x_{\mathrm{}}\right)`$ of the orbit $`S^{}x_{\mathrm{}}`$. For any $`i`$, $`1ik`$, we denote by $`\{S_i^t\}_t=\{S_i^t\}`$ the internal dynamics of the subsystem $`H_i`$, i. e. the dynamics in which we

(a) reduce the total momentum of the subsystem $`H_i`$ to zero by observing it from a suitably moving reference system;

(b) do not make any distinction between two configurations of $`H_i`$ differing only by a uniform spatial translation; (Factorizing with respect to uniform spatial translations, see also §1.)

(c) carry out a time-rescaling, so that the total kinetic energy of the internal system $`\{S_i^t\}_t`$ is equal to $`1`$.

Let, moreover, $`M_i=_{jH_i}m_j`$ the total mass, $`I_i=_{jH_i}m_jv_j^{\mathrm{}}`$ the total momentum, and $`V_i=I_i/M_i`$ the average velocity of the subsystem $`H_i`$. Similarly, we write $`W_i=(M_i)^1_{jH_i}m_j\delta q_j^{\mathrm{}}=(M_i)^1_{jH_i}m_jw_j^{\mathrm{}}`$ for the total (average) displacement of the system $`H_i`$ under the action of the neutral vector $`w_{\mathrm{}}=(\delta q_1^{\mathrm{}},\mathrm{},\delta q_N^{\mathrm{}})=(w_1^{\mathrm{}},\mathrm{},w_N^{\mathrm{}})`$. Finally, let $`|H_i|2`$ for $`i\{1,2,\mathrm{},s\}`$, $`|H_i|=1`$ for $`i\{s+1,\mathrm{},k\}`$.

First of all, we prove

###### Lemma 5.3

Let $`\lambda ,\mu `$ be given numbers, and form the neutral vector

$$n(\mu ,\lambda )=\mu v_{\mathrm{}}+\lambda w_{\mathrm{}}𝒩_0(x_{\mathrm{}})=𝒩_0(S^{}x_{\mathrm{}}).$$

Define $`T_{n(\mu ,\lambda ),0}x_{\mathrm{}}=(q_{\mathrm{}}+n(\mu ,\lambda ),v_{\mathrm{}})`$ as the neutral translation of $`x_{\mathrm{}}=(q_{\mathrm{}},v_{\mathrm{}})`$ by the vector $`n(\mu ,\lambda )`$, where we use the natural convention of Remark 4.6. Let, finally, $`i`$ and $`j`$ be labels of disks belonging to different components $`H_l`$, say, to $`H_p`$ and $`H_q`$. We claim that the orbit $`S^{}T_{n(\mu ,\lambda ),0}x_{\mathrm{}}`$ of $`T_{n(\mu ,\lambda ),0}x_{\mathrm{}}`$ cannot have a proper (i. e. non-tangential) collision between the disks $`i`$ and $`j`$.

### Proof

Assume the contrary. Then, by a simple continuity argument, one finds some real numbers $`\mu _0`$, $`\lambda _0`$ for which the orbit of $`T_{n(\mu _0,\lambda _0),0}x_{\mathrm{}}`$ hits a tangential singularity between the disks $`i`$ and $`j`$. By using a suitably accurate approximation $`(x_{t_n},w_{t_n})(x_{\mathrm{}},w_{\mathrm{}})`$, one finds a neutral, spatial translation of $`x_{t_n}`$ by a vector $`\mu _1v_{t_n}+\lambda _1w_{t_n}`$ ($`\mu _1\mu _0`$, $`\lambda _1\lambda _0`$) such that the orbit of $`(q_{t_n}+\mu _1v_{t_n}+\lambda _1w_{t_n},v_{t_n})`$ hits a tangential singularity between the disks $`i`$ and $`j`$, which is impossible by Lemma 4.11. This finishes the indirect proof of 5.3. ∎

The main step in the indirect proof of the Theorem is

###### Key Lemma 5.4

There exists a finite collection of nonzero lattice vectors

$$l_0,l_1,\mathrm{},l_p^2$$

(depending only on $`N`$ and the common radius $`r`$ of the $`N`$ disks moving in the standard unit torus $`𝕋^2=^2/^2`$) with the following properties: For every separating manifold $`J`$, for every phase point $`x_0J`$ fulfilling conditions (0)—(3) listed at the end of §3, and for every $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$-limit point $`x_{\mathrm{}}=lim_n\mathrm{}x_{t_n}`$ of the orbit $`S^{}x_0`$ it is true that $`k2`$ (i. e. the collision graph $`𝒢`$ of $`S^{}x_{\mathrm{}}`$ is not connected, see Definition 5.2 above), and there is an index $`j\{0,1,\mathrm{},p\}`$ such that all velocities $`v_i^{\mathrm{}}`$ ($`i=1,\mathrm{},N`$) are parallel to the lattice vector $`l_j`$.

### Remark 5.4/a

It is easy to see that the scenario described in the key lemma (i. e. that all velocities are parallel to $`l_j`$ for all time $`t`$) can only take place if the dynamically connected components of the motion — the connected components of the collision graph of $`S^{}x_{\mathrm{}}`$ — move on closed geodesics of $`𝕋^2`$ being parallel to $`l_j`$.

### Remark 5.4/b

The part $`k2`$ of the key lemma does not play any role in the overall proof of the Main Theorem. The reason why we included it is of didactics: When indirectly proving $`k2`$ below (under section $`1^o`$) we obtain an auxiliary result saying that the advances of a connected subsystem are necessarily equal, and this will be later used in proving the key lemma for the general case $`k2`$.

### Proof of Key Lemma 5.4

First of all, we prove the geometric

###### Sub-lemma 5.5

Consider the standard $`x`$$`y`$ coordinate plane with the usual unit vectors $`e_1=(1,0)`$, $`e_2=(0,1)`$. Suppose that infinitely many disks of radius $`r`$ and centers at $`q_i+je_2^2`$ ($`i=1,\mathrm{},N`$; $`j`$) are moving uniformly in $`^2`$ and colliding elastically. We assume that the disk centered at $`q_i+je_2`$ has mass $`m_i`$, and its velocity $`v_i=\dot{q}_i`$ is also independent of $`j`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{},N`$, $`j`$. We claim that if the trajectory of such an $`e_2`$-periodic system remains in the half plane $`xL`$ (for all time $`t`$, the number $`L`$ is given), then all velocities $`\dot{q}_i(t)=v_i(t)`$ are parallel to $`e_2`$.

### Proof of 5.5

We carry out an induction on the number of disks $`N`$ of the $`e_2`$-factorized system. For $`N=1`$ the statement is obviously true. Let $`N>1`$, and assume that the sub-lemma has been proved for all numbers $`N^{}<N`$.

Let $`i_1,i_2,\mathrm{},i_a`$ be the labels $`i`$ of disks with the largest value of the inner product $`q_i,e_1`$ at time $`t=0`$. To simplify the notations, we assume that the indices $`i_1,i_2,\mathrm{},i_a`$ are just $`1,2,\mathrm{},a`$.

Suppose first that the $`x`$-coordinate $`v_i,e_1`$ of the velocity $`v_i=\dot{q}_i`$ is nonzero for some $`ia`$. By reversing time, if necessary, we can assume that $`v_i,e_1>0`$ for some $`ia`$. This means that among the disks with the rightmost position at least one moves to the right. Denote by $`i=1,2,\mathrm{},b`$ ($`1ba`$) the labels of disks $`i`$ ($`ia`$) for which the inner product $`v_i,e_1`$ is maximal. Now it is easy to see that the first velocity component $`v_1,e_1=\mathrm{}=v_b,e_1`$ ($`>0`$) cannot decrease in time. As a matter of fact, two things can only happen to the disk(s) $`i`$ with the rightmost position and maximum value of $`v_i,e_1`$: Either the disk $`i`$ collides with another disk coming from the left, or another disk $`j`$ with a larger velocity component $`v_j,e_1`$ passes by $`q_i`$, thus by snapping the “title” of having the rightmost position. In either case, the maximum value of the first velocity component $`v_i,e_1`$ of the rightmost disk(s) can only increase. This argument shows that at least one disk $`i`$ will escape to the right ($`q_i,e_1+\mathrm{}`$), which is impossible by our assumption on the boundedness of the $`x`$-coordinates.

Therefore, only the second possibility can occur, i. e. that $`v_i,e_1=0`$ for all $`ia`$. This should then remain valid for all time $`t`$ by the above argument. However, this also means that the disks $`q_i+je_2`$, $`ia`$, $`j`$, collide among themselves, while all of them have vertical velocities. In the case $`a=N`$ we are done, while in the case $`a<N`$ we can use the induction hypothesis, which says that all velocities $`v_i`$, $`i>a`$, are also vertical. This finishes the proof of 5.5. ∎

###### Remarks 5.5/a

1. By taking a brief look at the proof, we can see that it readily generalizes to any dimension $`d2`$. What is even more, if the single boundedness condition of the lemma is replaced by $`k`$ linearly independent linear inequalities $`A_j\left(q_i(t)\right)L_j`$ (for all $`t`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{},N`$, $`j=1,\mathrm{},k`$, the linear functionals $`A_j`$ being linearly independent), then we can state that all velocities $`v_i(t)`$ ($`t`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{},N`$) belong to some $`dk`$-dimensional subspace $`S`$ of $`^d`$, and the positions line up in groups on translated copies of the subspace $`S`$.

2. The postulated periodicity ($`e_2`$–periodicity) condition has not been used in the proof and, therefore, it can be dropped.

Let us return now to the proof of Key Lemma 5.4. Its proof will be divided into several parts.

### $`1^o`$ First we prove that $`k2`$, i. e. the collision graph $`𝒢`$ of $`S^{}x_{\mathrm{}}`$ is not connected

Assume, on the contrary, the connectedness of $`𝒢`$. Let us focus on the limiting neutral vector

$$w_{\mathrm{}}=(\delta q_1^{\mathrm{}},\mathrm{},\delta q_N^{\mathrm{}})=(w_1^{\mathrm{}},\mathrm{},w_N^{\mathrm{}})=\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}w_{t_n},$$

for which $`_{i=1}^Nm_iw_i^{\mathrm{}}=0`$, $`_{i=1}^Nm_iw_i^{\mathrm{}}^2=1`$, and $`_{i=1}^Nm_iw_i^{\mathrm{}},v_i^{\mathrm{}}=0`$, where $`x_{\mathrm{}}=(q_1^{\mathrm{}},\mathrm{},q_N^{\mathrm{}};v_1^{\mathrm{}},\mathrm{},v_N^{\mathrm{}})`$. Let $`\mathrm{\Sigma }=(\mathrm{},\sigma _1,\sigma _0,\sigma _1,\mathrm{})`$ be the symbolic collision sequence of $`S^{}x_{\mathrm{}}`$, and denote by $`\alpha _j=\alpha (\sigma _j)`$ the advance of the collision $`\sigma _j`$ with respect to the neutral vector $`w_{\mathrm{}}`$, see §2. Since $`w_{\mathrm{}}`$ is not parallel to $`v_{\mathrm{}}=(v_1^{\mathrm{}},\mathrm{},v_N^{\mathrm{}})`$, by using the assumed connectedness of $`𝒢`$ we get that not all advances $`\alpha _j`$ ($`j`$) are equal, see the second statement of Lemma 2.13 in \[Sim(1992-B)\]. (That statement says that, in the case of a connected collision graph $`𝒢`$, the equality of all advances $`\alpha _j`$ implies that the considered neutral vector $`w_{\mathrm{}}`$ is parallel to the velocity $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$.) By switching from $`w_{\mathrm{}}`$ to $`w_{\mathrm{}}`$, if necessary, we can assume that there are indices $`j<k`$ ($`j,k`$) for which $`\alpha _j<\alpha _k`$, $`\sigma _j\sigma _k`$, and $`\sigma _j\sigma _k\mathrm{}`$. This means, however, that the translated copy $`(q_{\mathrm{}}+\lambda w_{\mathrm{}},v_{\mathrm{}})`$ of $`x_{\mathrm{}}=(q_{\mathrm{}},v_{\mathrm{}})`$ will hit a double collision singularity $`t(\sigma _l)=t(\sigma _{l+1})`$ ($`\sigma _l\sigma _{l+1}\mathrm{}`$) for some value

$$0<\lambda \lambda ^{}=(\alpha _k\alpha _j)^1\left(t(\sigma _k)t(\sigma _j)\right).$$

By considering some well approximating pair $`(x_{t_n},w_{t_n})(x_{\mathrm{}},w_{\mathrm{}})`$, we get that some translated copy $`(q_{t_n}+\lambda ^{}w_{t_n},v_{t_n})`$ of $`x_{t_n}=(q_{t_n},v_{t_n})`$ will hit a double collision singularity for some $`\lambda ^{}\lambda `$. However, this statement contradicts to Lemma 4.11. Therefore, the collision graph $`𝒢`$ of $`S^{}x_{\mathrm{}}`$ is not connected, the number $`k`$ of the connected components of $`𝒢`$ is at least two. ∎

### $`2^o`$ Next we prove Key Lemma 5.4 in the case $`k=N`$, i. e. when no proper collision at all takes place on the trajectory $`S^{}x_{\mathrm{}}`$

(By the way, this phenomenon can only occur if the maximum lengths $`\tau (x_{t_n})`$ and $`\tau (x_{t_n})`$ of the collision-free paths of $`x_{t_n}=(q_{t_n},v_{t_n})`$ and $`x_{t_n}=(q_{t_n},v_{t_n})`$ tend to infinity, as $`n\mathrm{}`$.)

First we put forward

###### Sub-lemma 5.6

For every pair of labels $`(i,j)`$ ($`1i<jN`$) it is true that

$$dim\text{span}\{v_i^{\mathrm{}}v_j^{\mathrm{}},w_i^{\mathrm{}}w_j^{\mathrm{}}\}1.$$

This sub-lemma is an immediate consequence of Lemma 5.3.

By the normalizations $`_{i=1}^Nm_iv_i^{\mathrm{}}=0`$ and $`_{i=1}^Nm_iv_i^{\mathrm{}}^2=1`$, not all velocities $`v_1^{\mathrm{}},\mathrm{},v_N^{\mathrm{}}`$ are the same.

###### Sub-lemma 5.7

All velocities $`v_1^{\mathrm{}},\mathrm{},v_N^{\mathrm{}}`$ are parallel to each other, that is,

$$dim\text{span}\{v_1^{\mathrm{}},\mathrm{},v_N^{\mathrm{}}\}=1.$$

### Proof

Assume the opposite, i. e. $`dim\text{span}\{v_1^{\mathrm{}},\mathrm{},v_N^{\mathrm{}}\}=2`$. (Again an essential use of the condition $`\nu =2`$.) Due to the relation $`_{i=1}^Nm_iv_i^{\mathrm{}}=0`$, the points $`v_1^{\mathrm{}},\mathrm{},v_N^{\mathrm{}}`$ of the plane $`^2`$ do not lie on the same line, not even on a line not passing through the origin. Thus, the points $`v_1^{\mathrm{}},\mathrm{},v_N^{\mathrm{}}`$ of $`^2`$ do not lie on the same affine line. We may assume that $`v_1^{\mathrm{}}`$, $`v_2^{\mathrm{}}`$, and $`v_3^{\mathrm{}}`$ do not lie on the same affine line of $`^2`$. Since $`w_2^{\mathrm{}}w_1^{\mathrm{}}=\alpha (v_2^{\mathrm{}}v_1^{\mathrm{}})`$, $`w_3^{\mathrm{}}w_2^{\mathrm{}}=\beta (v_3^{\mathrm{}}v_2^{\mathrm{}})`$, and $`w_3^{\mathrm{}}w_1^{\mathrm{}}=\gamma (v_3^{\mathrm{}}v_1^{\mathrm{}})`$, we conclude that

$$\gamma (v_2^{\mathrm{}}v_1^{\mathrm{}})+\gamma (v_3^{\mathrm{}}v_2^{\mathrm{}})=\alpha (v_2^{\mathrm{}}v_1^{\mathrm{}})+\beta (v_3^{\mathrm{}}v_2^{\mathrm{}}),$$

so $`\alpha =\beta =\gamma `$ by the linear independence of $`v_2^{\mathrm{}}v_1^{\mathrm{}}`$ and $`v_3^{\mathrm{}}v_2^{\mathrm{}}`$. For any index $`i>3`$ with $`v_i^{\mathrm{}}v_1^{\mathrm{}}`$ we have that $`(v_1^{\mathrm{}},v_2^{\mathrm{}},v_i^{\mathrm{}},)`$ or $`(v_1^{\mathrm{}},v_3^{\mathrm{}},v_i^{\mathrm{}},)`$ do not lie on the same affine line, and again conclude (the same way as above) that

$$w_i^{\mathrm{}}w_1^{\mathrm{}}=\alpha (v_i^{\mathrm{}}v_1^{\mathrm{}})$$
$`5.8`$
with the same $`\alpha `$ as above. It is obvious that (5.8) also holds for $`i>3`$ with $`v_i^{\mathrm{}}=v_1^{\mathrm{}}`$ and for $`i=1,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}2},\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}3}`$, i. e. (5.8) is true for all $`i=1,\mathrm{},N`$. Thanks to the conventions $`_{i=1}^Nm_iw_i^{\mathrm{}}=_{i=1}^Nm_iv_i^{\mathrm{}}=0`$, the equations (5.8) can only be fulfilled by the solution $`w_i^{\mathrm{}}=\alpha v_i^{\mathrm{}}`$ ($`i=1,\mathrm{},N`$), which is impossible, for the vector $`w_{\mathrm{}}`$ is not parallel to $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$. This contradiction finishes the indirect proof of Sub-lemma 5.7. ∎

Now continue the proof of Key Lemma 5.4 in the case $`k=N`$. We got that all velocities $`v_i^{\mathrm{}}`$ in $`S^{}x_{\mathrm{}}`$ are parallel to the same direction vector $`0l^2`$. Since the uniformly moving disks of the orbit $`S^{}x_{\mathrm{}}`$ have no proper collision, we get that

$$\text{dist}\{q_2^{\mathrm{}}q_1^{\mathrm{}}+tl,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0}\}2r$$

for all $`t`$. This means, however, that the direction vector $`l`$ is parallel to an irreducible (non-divisible) lattice vector $`0l_0^2`$, such that $`l_0{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4r}}`$. There are only finitely many choices for such a lattice vector $`l_0^2`$. This completes the proof of Key Lemma 5.4 in the case $`k=N`$. ∎

### $`3^o`$ The case $`s=k`$ ($`2`$), i. e. when $`|H_i|2`$ for all $`i`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{},k`$

Let us study, first of all, the relationship between the subsystems $`H_1`$ and $`H_2`$ (and their internal dynamics $`\{S_1^t\}`$, $`\{S_2^t\}`$) with particular emphasis on their relation to the limiting neutral vector $`w_{\mathrm{}}𝒩_0(S^{}x_{\mathrm{}})`$. Lemma 2.13 of \[Sim(1992-B)\] yields (see also the reference to that result in the exposition of $`1^o`$ above) that the advances of all collisions of $`\{S_1^t\}_t`$ with respect to $`w_{\mathrm{}}`$ are equal to the same number $`\alpha `$ and, similarly, all collisions of the internal flow $`\{S_2^t\}_t`$ share the same advance $`\beta `$ with respect to the neutral vector $`w_{\mathrm{}}`$. Select and fix an arbitrary real number $`t_0`$, and consider the linear combination

$$n(\lambda )=(t_0\alpha \lambda )v_{\mathrm{}}+\lambda w_{\mathrm{}}𝒩_0(S^{}x_{\mathrm{}})$$

with variable $`\lambda `$. Also consider the corresponding neutral spatial translation

$$x_{\mathrm{}}=(q_{\mathrm{}},v_{\mathrm{}})T_{n(\lambda ),0}x_{\mathrm{}}=(q_{\mathrm{}}+n(\lambda ),v_{\mathrm{}})$$

of $`x_{\mathrm{}}`$ with the natural convention of Remark 4.6. Observe that the neutral translation $`T_{n(\lambda ),0}`$ has the following effect on the internal dynamics $`\{S_1^t\}_t`$ and $`\{S_2^t\}_t`$: The advance of the subsystem $`H_1`$ is $`t_0`$, i. e. the internal time of evolution of $`H_1`$ will be the fixed number $`t_0`$. On the other hand, the advance of $`H_2`$ is obviously $`t_0+\lambda (\beta \alpha )`$. We distinguish between two, quite differently behaving situations:

### Case (A): $`\alpha \beta `$

The internal time of the subsystem $`H_2`$ (under the translation $`T_{n(\lambda ),0}x_{\mathrm{}}`$, now $`\lambda `$ plays the role of time) changes linearly with $`\lambda `$, it is equal to $`t_0+\lambda (\beta \alpha )`$, while the internal time of $`H_1`$ is constantly $`t_0`$. How about the relative motion of the non-interacting groups $`H_1`$ and $`H_2`$? Recall that $`V_i=(M_i)^1_{jH_i}m_jv_j^{\mathrm{}}`$ is the average velocity of the subsystem $`H_i`$, while $`W_i=(M_i)^1_{jH_i}m_jw_j^{\mathrm{}}`$ is the average displacement of the subsystem $`H_i`$ under the translation by the neutral vector $`w_{\mathrm{}}𝒩_0(S^{}x_{\mathrm{}})`$. (Note that $`M_i=_{jH_i}m_j`$.) The relative position of the subsystem $`H_1`$ with respect to $`H_2`$ can be measured, for example, by the relative position $`q_{j_1}^{\mathrm{}}q_{j_2}^{\mathrm{}}`$ of the disks $`j_1H_1`$, $`j_2H_2`$, $`j_1`$, $`j_2`$ fixed. To simplify the notations, we assume that $`j_1=1`$, $`j_2=2`$. Thus the relative position of the subsystem $`H_1`$ with respect to $`H_2`$ varies with $`\lambda `$ as follows:

$`q_1^{\mathrm{}}(\lambda )q_2^{\mathrm{}}(\lambda )=q_1^{\mathrm{}}q_2^{\mathrm{}}+(t_0\alpha \lambda )(V_1V_2)+\lambda (W_1W_2)`$ $`5.9`$
$`=q_1^{\mathrm{}}q_2^{\mathrm{}}+t_0(V_1V_2)+\lambda \left[W_1W_2\alpha (V_1V_2)\right].`$
Now we would like to paint a global picture (global, that is, in the universal covering space $`^2`$) of the orbit of $`H_2`$ under the neutral spatial translations $`T_{n(\lambda ),0}`$, $`\lambda `$. Due to the factorization with respect to uniform spatial translations when defining our model (see §1), in order to lift the dynamics from $`𝕋^2`$ to its universal covering space $`^2`$ (in a $`^2`$-periodic manner), it is necessary and sufficient to specify the position of the lifted copy $`\overline{q}_1^{\mathrm{}}(\lambda )^2`$ of $`q_1^{\mathrm{}}(\lambda )=q_1\left(T_{n(\lambda ),0}x_{\mathrm{}}\right)`$. We take

$$\overline{q}_1(\lambda )=\overline{q}_1=_0^{t_0}\left(v_1(S^tx_{\mathrm{}})V_1\right)𝑑t$$

(independently of $`\lambda `$, so that the “baricenter” of $`H_1`$ is unchanged while $`t_0`$ is changing later on), since the internal time of the subsystem $`H_1`$ is constantly $`t_0`$, and we want to describe the motion of $`H_2`$ relative to $`H_1`$. For $`i=1,2,\mathrm{},N`$ let the resulting $`^2`$-periodic lifting to $`^2`$ of $`q_i^{\mathrm{}}(\lambda )=q_i\left(T_{n(\lambda ),0}x_{\mathrm{}}\right)`$ be

$$\overline{q}_i(\lambda )+l,l^2,$$
$`5.10`$
where the lifting $`\overline{q}_i(\lambda )^2`$ is selected in such a way that it depends on $`\lambda `$ continuously. We point out here that currently the translation parameter $`\lambda `$ plays the role of time. Also note that for any $`jH_1`$ we have $`\overline{q}_j(\lambda )=\text{const}`$ (independent of $`\lambda `$), for $`\overline{q}_1(\lambda )=_0^{t_0}\left(v_1(S^tx_{\mathrm{}})V_1\right)𝑑t`$, and the internal time of the subsystem $`H_1`$ is not changing by the translations $`T_{n(\lambda ),0}`$. We want to pay special attention to the orbit of points $`\overline{q}_j(\lambda )+l^2`$, $`jH_2`$, $`l^2`$. We define the open $`2r`$-neighborhood $`U=U(x_{\mathrm{}},w_{\mathrm{}},H_1,H_2,t_0)`$ of the set

$$\{\overline{q}_j(\lambda )+l:jH_2,l^2,\lambda \}$$

as follows:

$$U=\{x^2:jH_2,l^2,\lambda \text{ s. t. }\text{dist}(x,\overline{q}_j(\lambda )+l)<2r\}.$$
$`5.11`$
According to Lemma 5.3, the points $`\overline{q}_j(\lambda )=\overline{q}_j`$ ($`jH_1`$) do not belong to the $`^2`$-periodic open set $`U`$. Let us understand the connected components of the set $`U`$. Since the open set $`U`$ is $`^2`$-periodic, the $`^2`$-translations will just permute the connected components of $`U`$ among themselves. The following lemma essentially uses the $`2D`$ topology of $`^2`$:

###### Sub-lemma 5.12

Let $`U_0U`$ be a connected component of a $`^2`$-periodic open set $`U`$. Then exactly one of the following possibilities occurs:

(1) $`U_0`$ is bounded;

(2) $`U_0`$ is unbounded, $`l_0`$-periodic with some lattice vector $`0l_0^2`$, and $`U_0`$ is bounded in the direction perpendicular to $`l_0`$;

(3) $`U_0`$ is $`^2`$-periodic.

### Remark 5.13

In the case (2) all periodicity vectors $`l^2`$ of $`U_0`$ are integer multiples of an irreducible lattice vector $`l_0`$, which is uniquely determined up to a sign.

### Proof

Denote by $`p:^2𝕋^2`$ the natural projection. Consider the open and connected set $`V_0=p(U_0)𝕋^2`$. It follows immediately from the conditions of the sub-lemma that

(a) $`U_0`$ is a connected component of the open set $`p^1(V_0)`$, and

(b) $`p:U_0V_0`$ is a covering map.

It is well known from the elements of topology that the group

$$G=\left\{g^2\right|U_0+g=U_0\}$$

is the group of all deck automorphisms of the covering $`p:U_0V_0`$, and $`G`$ is naturally isomorphic to the fundamental group of $`V_0`$. Now there are three possibilities for the subgroup $`G`$ of $`^2`$:

(1) $`|G|=1`$;

(2) $`G`$ (i. e. $`\text{rank}(G)=1`$);

(3) $`G^2`$ (i. e. $`\text{rank}(G)=2`$).

In the first case the covering $`p:U_0V_0`$ is an isometry, so $`U_0`$ is bounded.

In the second case, let $`l_0G`$ be a generating element of $`G`$. Topology says that the image $`V_0`$ of $`U_0`$ under the covering map $`p:U_0V_0`$ is just the factor of $`U_0`$ with respect to all translations by the integer multiples of $`l_0`$. This means that (2) of 5.12 holds true.

Finally, in the third case the domain $`U_0`$ contains an $`l_1`$-periodic, continuous curve $`\gamma _1`$ and an $`l_2`$-periodic, continuous curve $`\gamma _2`$, where $`l_1`$ and $`l_2`$ are two linearly independent elements of $`G`$. It follows immediately from the topology of the plane $`^2`$ that the translate $`\gamma _1+(m,n)`$ intersects the curve $`\gamma _2`$ for any $`(m,n)^2`$. Since $`U_0+(m,n)`$ is a connected component of the $`^2`$-periodic open set $`U`$ and $`\left[U_0+(m,n)\right]U_0\mathrm{}`$, we have that $`U_0+(m,n)=U_0`$ for any $`(m,n)^2`$, and this is just case (3) of the sub-lemma. ∎

The next sub-lemma takes into account that the open set $`U_0`$ (a connected component of the open set $`U`$ defined in (5.11)) is determined by a special dynamical system.

###### Sub-lemma 5.14

Out of the three cases listed in 5.12, in fact only one of them, namely (2) can occur.

### Proof

1. The impossibility of (1): Observe that for every $`\overline{q}_j(\lambda )`$ ($`jH_2`$, $`\lambda `$) there exists a lattice vector $`l^2`$ such that $`\overline{q}_j(\lambda )+lU_0`$. This follows simply from the connectedness of the collision graph of the $`H_2`$ subsystem $`\{S_2^t\}`$. If $`U_0`$ were bounded, then there would be a bounded cluster (enclosure) of a billiard dynamics with positive kinetic energy inside $`U_0`$, which is impossible for many reasons, for example, by Sub-lemma 5.5. Thus, $`U_0`$ is necessarily unbounded.

2. The impossibility of (3): Assume that $`U_0`$ is $`^2`$-periodic. Then $`U_0`$ contains an $`e_1`$-periodic, continuous curve $`\gamma _1`$, and an $`e_2`$-periodic, continuous curve $`\gamma _2`$, as well. The $`^2`$-periodic system of curves

$$\frac{}{\frac{m(\gamma _1+me_2)}{m(\gamma _2+me_1)U_0}}$$

shows that the connected components of $`^2U_0`$ are bounded. (Here we essentially use the $`2D`$ topology of $`^2`$.) Therefore, the points $`\overline{q}_j(\lambda )=\overline{q}_j(0)`$ ($`jH_1`$, $`\lambda `$) are enclosed in bounded clusters, for they do not belong to $`U`$, see Lemma 5.3. Recall that, as the number $`t_0`$ varies, the whole set $`U`$ and all of its connected components $`U_0`$ are moving in $`^2`$ at the velocity $`V_2V_1`$ (as the derivative with respect to $`t_0`$ shows), see the term containing $`t_0`$ in (5.9). However, for the representatives $`\overline{q}_j+l`$ ($`l^2`$, $`jH_1`$) of the $`H_1`$-dynamics $`\{S_1^t\}`$ (now the time parameter is $`t_0`$) it is impossible to remain in a uniformly moving, bounded enclosure by Sub-lemma 5.5, for in that case all velocities $`v_j^{\mathrm{}}`$ ($`jH_1`$) would be the same, contradicting to the fact $`|H_1|2`$ and the connectedness of the collision graph of $`H_1`$. This proves Sub-lemma 5.14. ∎

The joint conclusion of sub-lemmas 5.14 and 5.5 is that all velocities of the internal flow $`\{S_2^t\}`$ of $`H_2`$ are parallel to the vector of periodicity $`l_0`$ of the connected component $`U_0`$. Moreover, we constructed the lifting $`\overline{q}_i(\lambda )^2`$ in such a way that the $`l_0`$-periodic strip $`U_0`$ — forbidden zone for the points $`\overline{q}_i(\lambda )+^2`$ ($`iH_1`$) — moves at the velocity $`V_2V_1`$, see the term containing $`t_0`$ in (5.9). Since the lifting of the $`H_1`$-subsystem has no drift (the “baricenter” is not moving when $`t_0`$ is changing, see the definition of $`\overline{q}_1(\lambda )=\overline{q}_1`$ above), we get that the relative velocity $`V_2V_1`$ must also be parallel to $`l_0`$. This also means that the $`^2`$-lifting of the internal flow $`\{S_1^t\}`$ is confined to an $`l_0`$-periodic, infinite strip bounded by two translated copies of $`U_0`$. By using Sub-lemma 5.5 again, we obtain that all velocities of the internal flow $`\{S_1^t\}`$ are also parallel to the vector of periodicity $`l_0`$. ∎

### Remark 5.14/a

Since $`n(\lambda )=(t_0\alpha \lambda )v_{\mathrm{}}+\lambda w_{\mathrm{}}`$, the drift (i. e. the average derivative of the positions with respect to the variable $`\lambda `$)

$$(M_2)^1\underset{jH_2}{}m_j\frac{d}{d\lambda }\overline{q}_j(\lambda )$$

of the subsystem $`H_2`$ is equal to $`(W_2W_1)\alpha (V_2V_1)`$ where, as we recall,

$$V_i=(M_i)^1\underset{jH_i}{}m_jv_j^{\mathrm{}},W_i=(M_i)^1\underset{jH_i}{}m_jw_j^{\mathrm{}}.$$

Obviously, this drift must be parallel to the vector of periodicity $`l_0`$. Since $`V_2V_1`$ is parallel to $`l_0`$, we conclude that $`W_2W_1`$ is also parallel to $`l_0`$. This remark will be used later in this section.

The second major case in ($`3^o`$) is

### Case (B): $`\alpha =\beta `$

Let us consider now the modified neutral vector $`w_{\mathrm{}}\alpha v_{\mathrm{}}𝒩_0(S^{}x_{\mathrm{}})`$. The advance of both subsystems $`H_1`$ and $`H_2`$ is zero with respect to the neutral vector $`w_{\mathrm{}}\alpha v_{\mathrm{}}`$, thus

$`w_j^{\mathrm{}}\alpha v_j^{\mathrm{}}=h_1,jH_1,`$ $`5.15`$
$`w_j^{\mathrm{}}\alpha v_j^{\mathrm{}}=h_2,jH_2,`$
for some vectors $`h_1,h_2^2`$. In other words, the effect of the neutral translation by the vector $`w_{\mathrm{}}\alpha v_{\mathrm{}}`$ on the non-interacting groups $`H_1`$ and $`H_2`$ is that $`H_i`$ gets displaced (translated) by the vector $`h_i`$, $`i=1,2`$. Now there are again two sub-cases:

### Sub-case B/1: $`h_1h_2`$

In this case the result of the neutral translation by the vector $`n(\lambda )=\lambda (w_{\mathrm{}}\alpha v_{\mathrm{}})`$ ($`\lambda `$ is now the varying parameter) is that the relative translation of the $`H_2`$ subsystem with respect to $`H_1`$ is $`\lambda (h_2h_1)`$ with the velocity $`0h_2h_1^2`$. The point is that Lemma 5.3 is again readily applicable (so that $`n(\mu ,\lambda )`$ is replaced by $`n(\lambda )`$), meaning that on the orbit $`S^{}T_{n(\lambda ),0}x_{\mathrm{}}`$ of $`T_{n(\lambda ),0}x_{\mathrm{}}`$ no proper collision takes place between the groups $`H_1`$ and $`H_2`$. This fact has the following consequence on the $`^2`$-periodic, $`^2`$-lifting

$$\{\overline{q}_i(t)+l^2:iH_1H_2,l^2,t\}$$
$`5.16`$
of the subsystem $`H_1H_2`$ with the baricenter normalization $`_{iH_1}m_i{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dt}}\overline{q}_i(t)=0`$:

$$\text{dist}(\overline{q}_i(t),\overline{q}_j(t)+\lambda (h_2h_1)+l)2r,$$
$`5.17`$
for $`iH_1`$, $`jH_2`$, $`t,\lambda `$, $`l^2`$. In other words, the $`2r`$-wide, infinite strips with the direction of $`h_2h_1`$ containing $`\overline{q}_i(t)`$ on their medium line ($`iH_1`$) are disjoint from the similarly constructed infinite strips containing $`\overline{q}_j(t)`$ ($`jH_2`$) on their medium line. Similarly to the closing part of the discussion of Case (A), we conclude, first of all, that the relative motion (drift) $`V_2V_1`$ between $`H_2`$ and $`H_1`$ must be parallel to $`h_2h_1`$ and then, according to Sub-lemma 5.5, all velocities of the internal dynamics $`\{S_1^t\}`$ and $`\{S_2^t\}`$ must also be parallel to $`h_2h_1`$. Since the $`(h_2h_1)`$-parallel strips of width $`2r`$ are disjoint modulo $`^2`$, we immediately get that $`h_2h_1`$ has a lattice direction, and the shortest nonzero lattice vector $`l_0`$ parallel to $`h_2h_1`$ has length at most $`1/(4r)`$. ∎

### Remark 5.17/a

Let us observe that everything that has been said about the pair $`(H_1,H_2)`$ in Case B/1 can be repeated almost word-by-word if one of the groups $`H_i`$, say $`H_2`$, has only one element. This remark will have a particular relevance later in this section.

### Sub-case B/2: $`h_1=h_2`$

In this situation the united subsystem $`H_1H_2`$ gets uniformly translated by the vector $`h_1=h_2`$ under the action of the neutral vector $`w_{\mathrm{}}\alpha v_{\mathrm{}}`$. This is an open possibility, indeed, and nothing else can be said about it.

Now we are in the position of quickly finishing the discussion of ($`3^o`$). Recall that $`s=k`$ ($`2`$), i. e. $`|H_i|2`$ for $`i=1,\mathrm{},k`$. Consider the advances $`\alpha _i=\alpha (H_i)`$ of the subsystems $`H_1,\mathrm{},H_k`$ with respect to the limiting neutral vector $`w_{\mathrm{}}=lim_n\mathrm{}w_{t_n}𝒩_0(S^{}x_{\mathrm{}})`$. Unfortunately, we again have to distinguish between two cases.

### Case I. Not all $`\alpha _i`$’s are the same, e. g. $`\alpha _1\alpha _2`$

In this situation the result of Case (A) above says that $`V_1V_2`$ and all velocities of the internal flows $`\{S_1^t\}`$ and $`\{S_2^t\}`$ are parallel to the same nonzero lattice vector $`l_0^2`$. For any other subsystem $`H_i`$ ($`i>2`$) we have that $`\alpha _i\alpha _1`$ or $`\alpha _i\alpha _2`$. Assume that $`\alpha _i\alpha _1`$. The result of Case (A) above says that $`V_iV_1`$ and all velocities of the internal flows $`\{S_1^t\}`$ and $`\{S_i^t\}`$ are parallel to the same nonzero lattice vector $`l_1^2`$. The common presence of the flow $`\{S_1^t\}`$ in these statements shows that $`l_0=l_1`$ (or, at least they are parallel to each other). Summarizing these results, we finish the discussion of Case I by concluding that all average velocities $`V_i`$ and all velocities of the internal flows $`\{S_i^t\}`$ ($`i=1,\mathrm{},k`$) are parallel to the same (nonzero) lattice vector $`l_0`$ whose magnitude is at most $`1/(4r)`$. ∎

### Case II. $`\alpha _1=\alpha _2=\mathrm{}=\alpha _k=:\alpha `$

Consider, as in Case (B) above, the neutral vector $`w_{\mathrm{}}\alpha v_{\mathrm{}}𝒩_0(S^{}x_{\mathrm{}})`$. The advance of each $`H_i`$ with respect to $`w_{\mathrm{}}\alpha v_{\mathrm{}}`$ is zero, so (5.15) applies:

$$w_j^{\mathrm{}}\alpha v_j^{\mathrm{}}=h_i\text{ for }jH_i,i=1,2,\mathrm{},k.$$
$`5.18`$
Since $`w_{\mathrm{}}\alpha v_{\mathrm{}}0`$ and $`_{i=1}^kM_ih_i=0`$ ($`M_i=_{jH_i}m_j`$), we conclude that not all vectors $`h_1,\mathrm{},h_k^2`$ are the same, e. g. $`h_1h_2`$. Then for every $`i>2`$ we have either $`h_ih_1`$, or $`h_ih_2`$, say $`h_ih_1`$, and the result of Case B/1 above applies to the pairs of subsystems $`(H_1,H_2)`$ and $`(H_1,H_i)`$. Quite similarly to the discussion of Case I above (but referring in it to Case B/1, instead of Case (A)) we get that all average velocities $`V_1,\mathrm{},V_k`$ and all velocities of the internal flows $`\{S_i^t\}`$ ($`i=1,\mathrm{},k`$) are parallel to the vector $`h_2h_10`$. Recall that $`h_2h_1`$ has a lattice direction, and the shortest (nonzero) lattice vector $`l_0`$ parallel to $`h_2h_1`$ has magnitude at most $`1/(4r)`$, thus completing the proof of Key Lemma 5.4 in the case ($`3^o`$). ∎

### $`4^o`$ The general case $`1s<k`$

In this case the subsystems $`H_i`$ with $`|H_i|2`$ (i. e. $`is`$) coexist with the subsystems $`H_i`$ for which $`|H_i|=1`$ ($`i>s`$). In order to simplify the notations we assume that $`H_i=\{i\}`$ for $`i=s+1,s+2,\mathrm{},k`$.

Consider the advances $`\alpha _j=\alpha (H_j)`$ of the subsystems $`H_j`$, $`1js`$, with respect to the limiting neutral vector $`w_{\mathrm{}}`$. Unfortunately, we again have to distinguish between three major situations.

### Case I. Not all of $`\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _s`$ are equal, say, $`\alpha _1\alpha _2`$

Let us observe, first of all, that the whole machinery of ($`3^o`$) applies to the united subsystem $`H_1H_2\mathrm{}H_s`$, showing that there exists a nonzero lattice vector $`l_0^2`$ so that all velocities of the internal dynamics $`\{S_i^t\}`$ ($`1is`$) and all relative velocities of the baricenters $`V_iV_j`$ ($`1i,js`$) are parallel to $`l_0`$. (The second part of this statement is clearly equivalent to saying that the average velocities $`V_i^{}`$ of the subsystems $`H_i`$ ($`1is`$) are parallel to $`l_0`$, provided that these average velocities are observed from a reference system attached to the baricenter of $`H_1H_2\mathrm{}H_s`$.)

Let us turn our attention to a one-disk subsystem $`H_i=\{i\}`$, $`s+1ik`$, $`i`$ is fixed. Just like in (5.18), the advance of the subsystem $`H_j`$ ($`js`$) with respect to the neutral vector $`w_{\mathrm{}}\alpha _jv_{\mathrm{}}`$ is zero, therefore the whole subsystem $`H_j`$ gets translated by the same vector $`h_j^2`$ under the action of $`w_{\mathrm{}}\alpha _jv_{\mathrm{}}`$:

$$w_l^{\mathrm{}}\alpha _jv_l^{\mathrm{}}=h_j,lH_j,j=1,\mathrm{},s.$$
$`5.19`$
Consider now the vectors of displacement $`w_i^{\mathrm{}}\alpha _jv_i^{\mathrm{}}=h_j^{}^2`$, $`j=1,\mathrm{},s`$, the index $`i`$ is fixed, $`s+1ik`$. If $`h_jh_j^{}0`$ for at least one $`js`$, then the result of Case B/1 of ($`3^o`$) applies to the pair of subsystems $`(H_j,H_i)`$ (see Remark 5.17/a), thus we have that the relative velocity $`V_jV_i`$ of the baricenters is parallel to the fixed lattice vector $`l_0^2`$. This is the most we can prove for the motion of $`H_i`$ relative to the motion of $`H_1H_2\mathrm{}H_s`$, for if we had such a result for every $`i`$ ($`s+1ik`$), then the statement of the key lemma would follow.

The unpleasant situation with $`H_i`$ is when

$$w_i^{\mathrm{}}\alpha _jv_i^{\mathrm{}}=h_j=w_l^{\mathrm{}}\alpha _jv_l^{\mathrm{}},lH_j,j=1,\mathrm{},s,$$
$`5.20`$
$`s+1ik`$, $`i`$ is fixed.

With $`i`$ and $`j`$ fixed, let us average (5.20) with respect to the weights $`m_l`$ ($`lH_j`$) of the subsystem $`H_j`$. We obtain

$$W_j=W_i+\alpha _j(V_jV_i),j=1,\mathrm{},s.$$
$`5.21`$
$`s+1ik`$, $`i`$ is fixed. Recall that $`V_i=v_i^{\mathrm{}}`$ and $`W_i=w_i^{\mathrm{}}`$ for the one-disk subsystem $`H_i=\{i\}`$.

We again have to distinguish between two sub-cases.

### Case I/a. Not all average velocities $`V_1,\mathrm{},V_s`$ are the same

###### Sub-lemma 5.22

There is a pair of indices $`1j_1,j_2s`$ for which $`\alpha _{j_1}\alpha _{j_2}`$ and $`V_{j_1}V_{j_2}`$.

### Proof

As a matter of fact, this sub-lemma is trivial. Indeed, if $`V_{j_1}`$ were equal to $`V_{j_2}`$ whenever $`\alpha _{j_1}\alpha _{j_2}`$ ($`1j_1,j_2s`$), then we would have, first of all, $`V_1=V_2`$, since $`\alpha _1\alpha _2`$ by the assumption of Case I. Secondly, for every $`j=3,4,\mathrm{},s`$ either $`\alpha _j\alpha _1`$ or $`\alpha _j\alpha _2`$, thus proving $`V_j=V_1=V_2`$ for $`j=3,4,\mathrm{},s`$, contradicting to the assumption of I/a. ∎

By taking the difference of (5.21) for $`j_1`$ and $`j_2`$, and also using Remark 5.14 for the pair of subsystems $`(H_{j_1},H_{j_2})`$, we get

$`c(V_{j_1}V_{j_2})=W_{j_1}W_{j_2}=\alpha _{j_1}(V_{j_1}V_i)\alpha _{j_2}(V_{j_2}V_i)`$ $`5.23`$
$`=\alpha _{j_1}(V_{j_1}V_{j_2})+(\alpha _{j_1}\alpha _{j_2})(V_{j_2}V_i),`$
for some scalar $`c`$. Since $`V_{j_1}V_{j_2}l_0`$ and $`\alpha _{j_1}\alpha _{j_2}0`$, we obtain that $`V_{j_2}V_i`$ is also parallel to the lattice vector $`l_0`$, precisely what we wanted to prove in Case I.

### Case I/b. $`V_1=V_2=\mathrm{}=V_s=:V`$

Now formula (5.21) says that

$$W_j=W_i+\alpha _j(VV_i),j=1,\mathrm{},s,$$
$`5.24`$
the index $`i`$ is fixed, $`s+1ik`$. Take the difference of (5.24) for $`j=1`$ and $`j=2`$:

$$W_1W_2=(\alpha _1\alpha _2)(VV_i).$$
$`5.25`$
Recall that $`\alpha _1\alpha _2`$ and, by Remark 5.14/a, $`W_1W_2`$ is parallel to $`l_0`$. Therefore, the relative velocity $`V_iV`$ also proves to be parallel to the lattice vector $`l_0`$, the result we just wanted to prove for the subsystem $`H_i`$ in Case I. Thus Key Lemma 5.4 has been proved in Case I of ($`4^o`$).

### Case II. $`\alpha _1=\alpha _2=\mathrm{}=\alpha _s=:\alpha `$, but not all vectors $`h_1,\mathrm{},h_s`$ in (5.19) are the same

Assume that $`h_1h_2`$. Then the method of Sub-case B/1 of ($`3^o`$) applies to the subsystem $`H_1\mathrm{}H_s`$, showing again that there exists a nonzero lattice vector $`l_0`$ such that all velocities of the flows $`\{S_i^t\}`$ ($`1is`$) and all relative velocities $`V_{j_1}V_{j_2}`$ ($`1j_1,j_2s`$) are parallel to $`l_0`$. Just as in Case I above, consider again a one-disk subsystem $`H_i=\{i\}`$, $`s+1ik`$. We need to show that some (or any) of the velocities $`V_iV_j`$ ($`j=1,\mathrm{},s`$) is parallel to $`l_0`$. Consider the vector $`h_i=w_i^{\mathrm{}}\alpha v_i^{\mathrm{}}^2`$. This vector should differ from $`h_1`$ or $`h_2`$. Assume that $`h_ih_1`$. In this situation the method and result of Sub-case B/1 of ($`3^o`$) again applies to the pair of subsystems $`(H_1,H_i)`$ (see Remark 5.17/a), and we obtain that $`V_iV_1`$ is parallel to $`l_0`$. This step finishes the proof of Key Lemma 5.4 in Case II of ($`4^o`$). ∎

### Case III. $`\alpha _1=\alpha _2=\mathrm{}=\alpha _s=:\alpha `$, and $`h_1=h_2=\mathrm{}=h_s=:h`$ in (5.19)

We can assume that $`h_1=\mathrm{}=h_t=h`$ and $`h_ih`$ for $`t+1ik`$. Due to the relation $`_{i=1}^kM_ih_i=0`$ (and to the fact that $`w_{\mathrm{}}\alpha v_{\mathrm{}}`$), we have that $`stk1`$. Select and fix an arbitrary index $`i\{t+1,\mathrm{},k\}`$, and study the relative motion of the subsystems $`H^{}=:H_1H_2\mathrm{}H_t`$ and $`H_i=\{i\}`$. Since the neutral vector $`w_{\mathrm{}}\alpha v_{\mathrm{}}`$ translates the whole subsystem $`H^{}`$ by the same vector $`h`$ and it translates the one-disk subsystem $`H_i=\{i\}`$ by a different vector $`h_i`$, the method and result of Sub-case B/1 of ($`3^o`$) again applies to the pair $`(H^{},H_i)`$, and we obtain that there exists a nonzero lattice vector $`l_0^2`$ so that all velocities of the internal dynamics $`\{S_j^t\}`$ ($`j=1,\mathrm{},s`$), all relative velocities $`V_{j_1}V_{j_2}`$ ($`j_1,j_2\{1,\mathrm{},t;i\}`$), and $`h_ih`$ are parallel to $`l_0`$. Due to the common presence of the internal dynamics $`\{S_1^t\}`$, the same thing can be said about any other index $`i\{t+1,\mathrm{},k\}`$ with the same direction vector $`l_0`$. This finishes the proof of Key Lemma 5.4 in the last remaining case of ($`4^o`$), thus completing the proof of 5.4. We note that every nonzero lattice vector $`l_0^2`$ that emerged in this proof had the property $`l_01/(4r)`$, thus ensuring the finiteness of the family $`\{l_0,l_1,\mathrm{},l_p\}`$ in Key Lemma 5.4. ∎

## §6. Non-Existence of Separating Manifolds
Part C: Topological Arguments

Given any nonzero vector $`l_0^2`$ ($`l_0{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4r}}`$, as always), consider the one-dimensional sub-torus $`T(l_0)=\left\{\lambda l_0\right|\lambda \}/^2`$ of $`𝕋^2=^2/^2`$, and define the following subset $`L(l_0)`$ of the phase space $`𝕄`$:

$$L(l_0)=\left\{x𝕄\right|v_i(S^tx)l_0t,i=1,\mathrm{},N\}.$$
$`6.1`$
The set $`L(l_0)`$ is obviously flow-invariant. We will see below that $`L(l_0)`$ is a compact subset of the (compact) phase space $`𝕄`$. As a consequence of Key Lemma 5.4 and Remark 5.4/a, we have that for any separating manifold $`J𝕄𝕄`$ (with the dimension-minimizing property, see properties (0)–(3) at the end of §3) and for every phase point $`x_0J`$ — with a non-singular forward orbit $`S^{[0,\mathrm{})}x_0`$ — there exists a lattice vector $`l_0^2`$ ($`0<l_0{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4r}}`$) such that the $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$-limit set $`\mathrm{\Omega }(x_0)`$ of $`x_0`$ is contained in $`L(l_0)`$.

Let us briefly describe first the structure of the set $`L(l_0)`$. For any point $`xL(l_0)`$ we define the partition $`𝒫=𝒫(x)=\{H_1,\mathrm{},H_k\}=\{H_1(x),\mathrm{},H_k(x)\}`$ ($`k=k(x)`$) of the full vertex set $`\{1,2,\mathrm{},N\}`$ into the connected components of the collision graph $`𝒢(S^{}x)`$ of the orbit $`S^{}x`$, just as we did in 5.2 above. (Recall that in the construction of the collision graph $`𝒢(S^{}x)`$ we only consider the proper, i. e. non-tangential collisions.) For definiteness, let the labeling of the sets $`H_i=H_i(x)`$ ($`i=1,\mathrm{},k(x)`$) follow the pattern that for $`i<j`$ the smallest element of $`H_i`$ precedes the smallest element of $`H_j`$. Denote the open, tubular $`r`$-neighborhood (in $`𝕋^2`$) of the coset $`T(l_0)+q_i(x)`$ by $`T_i=T_i(x)`$, $`xL(l_0)`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{},N`$. Thanks to the invariance of the relation $`v_i(S^tx)l_0`$ ($`t`$), we obtain that $`T_i(S^tx)=T_i(x)`$ for all $`t`$.

A simple observation of the trajectory of a phase point $`xL(l_0)`$ reveals the following facts about any pair of distinct indices $`i_1,i_2\{1,2,\mathrm{},N\}`$:

$$T_{i_1}(x)=T_{i_2}(x),\text{ if }i_1,i_2H_r(x)\text{ for some }1rk(x),$$
$`6.2`$
$`T_{i_1}(x)T_{i_2}(x)=\mathrm{}`$ $`6.3`$
$`\text{if }i_1H_{r_1}(x),i_2H_{r_2}(x),r_1r_2,\text{ and }\mathrm{max}\{|H_{r_1}(x)|,|H_{r_2}(x)|\}2,`$
$$T_{i_1}(x)T_{i_2}(x)=\mathrm{}\text{ or }v_{i_1}(x)=v_{i_2}(x)\text{ if }\mathrm{max}\{|H_{r_1}(x)|,|H_{r_2}(x)|\}=1.$$
$`6.4`$
It is clear from these formulas that the set of phase points $`xL(l_0)`$ with a given partition $`𝒫=𝒫(x)`$ is closed (i. e. compact) and, henceforth, the entire set $`L(l_0)`$ is also compact.

The following proposition is, in fact, a simple consequence of the Baire category theorem.

###### \bfProposition 6.5

Assume that $`J𝕄𝕄`$ is a separating manifold with the dimension minimalizing property, i. e. properties (0)—(3) from the end of §3 hold true. We claim that there exists a lattice vector $`l_0^2`$ (with $`0<l_01/4r`$) such that for every $`ϵ_0>0`$ there is an open subset $`\mathrm{}GJ`$ and a threshold $`t_0>0`$ for which

$`d(S^ty,L(l_0))`$ $`ϵ_0,`$ $`6.6`$
$`\underset{\tau \mathrm{}}{lim}d(S^\tau y,L(l_0))`$ $`=0`$
for all $`yG`$ with a non-singular forward orbit $`S^{(0,\mathrm{})}y`$ and for all $`tt_0`$.

### Proof

Denote by $`𝒮_J=𝒮^+J`$ the set of all phase points $`yJ`$ with a singular forward orbit $`S^{(0,\mathrm{})}y`$. It follows from property (3) at the end of §3 that the set $`𝒮_J`$ is an $`F_\sigma `$ set (i. e. a countable union of closed sets) of zero measure in $`J`$. For fixed $`ϵ_0>0`$, $`t_0>0`$, and $`l_0^2\{0\}`$ the set

$$F(ϵ_0,t_0,l_0)=\left\{yJ𝒮_J\right|tt_0d(S^ty,L(l_0))ϵ_0\}$$

is closed in the dense, $`G_\delta `$ subset (countable intersection of open sets) $`J𝒮_J`$ of $`J`$. It follows from the results of earlier sections (Key Lemma 5.4, Remark 5.4/a) that

$$\frac{J𝒮_J=}{t_0>0l_0^2\{0\}l_01/4rF(ϵ_0,t_0,l_0)}$$
$`6.7`$
for any fixed $`ϵ_0>0`$. The space $`J𝒮_J`$ is a $`G_\delta `$ subspace of $`J`$ and, being such, it is completely metrizable, see Theorem 4.3.23 in \[E(1977)\]. Consequently, in the topological space $`J𝒮_J`$ the Baire category theorem is applicable. The union in (6.7) is monotonic in $`t_0`$, thus — by the Baire theorem — there exist a $`t_0>0`$ and a direction vector $`l_0^2\{0\}`$ ($`l_01/4r`$) such that the set $`F(ϵ_0,t_0,l_0)`$ has a non-empty interior in $`J𝒮_J`$, i. e. there is an open set $`\mathrm{}GJ`$ such that

$`d(S^ty,L(l_0))`$ $`ϵ_0,`$
$`\underset{\tau \mathrm{}}{lim}d({\displaystyle \frac{S^\tau y,}{l}}`$
$`0<||l||1/4rL(l))`$ $`=0`$
for all $`yJ𝒮_J`$ and $`tt_0`$. However, the compact components $`L(l)`$ of

$$\frac{}{l^20<l1/4rL(l)}$$

are mutually disjoint (Needless to say, we only consider mutually non-parallel vectors $`l`$!), so if the given number $`ϵ_0>0`$ is selected to be sufficiently small, then — by the already proved first inequality of (6.6) — the orbit $`S^ty`$ ($`yG𝒮_J`$) cannot converge to any component $`L(l)`$ other than $`L(l_0)`$.

Finally, for all smaller values $`ϵ_0^{}<ϵ_0`$ we can repeat the above argument by restricting ourselves to the open set $`G`$ instead of the entire $`J`$ and, in that way, the direction vector $`l`$ of the limiting set $`L(l)`$ will remain the above vector $`l_0`$ all the time (i. e. for every $`ϵ_0^{}`$). This finishes the proof of the proposition. ∎

### Corollary 6.8

By replacing the manifold $`J`$ by $`S^{t_0}(G)`$, we can assume that the statement of Proposition 6.5 holds true for the entire separating manifold $`J`$ with the threshold $`t_0=0`$. What is even more, the condition on the non-singularity of $`S^{(0,\mathrm{})}y`$ ($`yJ`$) can be dropped, as the following argument shows:

The forward orbit of a phase point $`y𝒮_J`$ has several branches, see §2.3 above, or §2 of \[Sim(1992-A)\]. However, each of these branches is actually the limit of forward orbits of phase points $`y_nJ𝒮_J`$ ($`n\mathrm{}`$). Consequently, the first line of (6.6) (the inequality) readily generalizes to the singular phase points $`yG𝒮_J`$. Even if it might seem appealing, throughout the entire proof of the Theorem we will not need this additional result about singular phase points. We will be exclusively dealing with phase points $`y𝕄𝕄`$ with a nonsingular forward orbit $`S^{(0,\mathrm{})}y`$. ∎

In the upcoming two sections we are going to prove that — contrary to the statement of Proposition 6.5 — the compact set $`L(l_0)`$ ($`l_0^2`$ fixed, $`0<l_01/4r`$) cannot attract any separating manifold $`J𝕄𝕄`$. The accomplishment of such a proof will complete the proof of the Theorem of this paper.

## §7. Non-Existence of Separating Manifolds
Part D: Transversality

Given a codimension-one, locally flow-invariant, smooth sub-manifold $`J𝕄`$, consider a normal vector $`n_0=(z,w)`$ ($`0`$) of $`J`$ at the phase point $`yJ`$, i. e. for any tangent vector $`(\delta q,\delta v)𝒯_y𝕄`$ the relation $`(\delta q,\delta v)𝒯_yJ`$ is true if and only if $`\delta q,z+\delta v,w=0`$. Here $`.,.`$ is the scalar product corresponding to the mass metric, that is, $`a,b=_{i=1}^Nm_ia_i,b_i`$. Let us determine first the time-evolution $`n_0n_t`$ ($`t>0`$) of this normal vector as time $`t`$ elapses. If there is no collision on the orbit segment $`S^{[0,t]}y`$, then the relationship between $`(\delta q,\delta v)𝒯_y𝕄`$ and $`(\delta q^{},\delta v^{})=\left(DS^t\right)(\delta q,\delta v)`$ is obviously

$`\delta v^{}`$ $`=\delta v,`$ $`7.1`$
$`\delta q^{}`$ $`=\delta q+t\delta v,`$
from which we obtain that

$`(\delta q^{},\delta v^{})𝒯_y^{}J`$ $`\delta q^{}t\delta v^{},z+\delta v^{},w=0`$
$`\delta q^{},z+\delta v^{},wtz=0.`$
This means that $`n_t=(z,wtz)`$. It is always very useful to consider the quadratic form $`Q(n)=Q((z,w))=:z,w`$ associated with the normal vector $`n=(z,w)𝒯_y𝕄`$ of $`J`$ at $`y`$. $`Q(n)`$ is the so called “infinitesimal Lyapunov function”, see \[K-B(1994)\] or part A.4 of the Appendix in \[Ch(1994)\]. For a detailed exposition of the relationship between the quadratic form $`Q`$, the relevant symplectic geometry and the dynamics, please see \[L-W(1995)\].

### Remark

Since the normal vector $`n=(z,w)`$ of $`J`$ is only determined up to a nonzero scalar multiplier, the value $`Q(n)`$ is only determined up to a positive multiplier. However, this means that the sign of $`Q(n)`$ (which is the utmost important thing for us) is uniquely determined. This remark will gain a particular importance in the near future.

From the above calculations we get that

$$Q(n_t)=Q(n_0)tz^2Q(n_0).$$
$`7.2`$
The next question is how the normal vector $`n`$ of $`J`$ gets transformed $`n^{}n^+`$ through a collision (reflection) at time $`t=0`$? Elementary geometric considerations show (see Lemma 2 of \[Sin(1979)\], or formula (2) in §3 of \[S-Ch(1987)\]) that the linearization of the flow

$$\left(DS^t\right)|_{t=0}:(\delta q^{},\delta v^{})(\delta q^+,\delta v^+)$$

is given by the formulas

$`\delta q^+`$ $`=R\delta q^{},`$ $`7.3`$
$`\delta v^+`$ $`=R\delta v^{}+2\mathrm{cos}\varphi RV^{}KV\delta q^{},`$
where the operator $`R:𝒯_q𝒯_q`$ is the orthogonal reflection (with respect to the mass metric) across the tangent hyperplane $`𝒯_q`$ of $``$ at $`q`$ ($`y^{}=(q,v^{})𝕄`$, $`y^+=(q,v^+)𝕄`$), $`V:(v^{})^{}𝒯_q`$ is the $`v^{}`$-parallel projection of the ortho-complement hyperplane $`(v^{})^{}`$ onto $`𝒯_q`$, $`V^{}:𝒯_q(v^{})^{}`$ is the adjoint of $`V`$, i. e. it is the projection of $`𝒯_q`$ onto $`(v^{})^{}`$ being parallel to the normal vector $`\nu (q)`$ of $``$ at $`q`$, $`K:𝒯_q𝒯_q`$ is the second fundamental form of $``$ at $`q`$ and, finally, $`\mathrm{cos}\varphi =\nu (q),v^+`$ is the cosine of the angle $`\varphi `$ subtended by $`v^+`$ and the normal vector $`\nu (q)`$. For the formula (7.3), please also see the last displayed formula of §1 in \[S-Ch(1982)\], or (i) and (ii) of Proposition 2.3 in \[K-S-Sz(1990)\]. We note that it is enough to deal with the tangent vectors $`(\delta q^{},\delta v^{})(v^{})^{}\times (v^{})^{}`$ ($`(\delta q^+,\delta v^+)(v^+)^{}\times (v^+)^{}`$), for the manifold $`J`$ under investigation is supposed to be flow-invariant, so any vector $`(\delta q,\delta v)=(\alpha v,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0})`$ ($`\alpha `$) is automatically inside $`𝒯_yJ`$. The backward version (inverse)

$$\left(DS^t\right)|_{t=0}:(\delta q^+,\delta v^+)(\delta q^{},\delta v^{})$$

can be deduced easily from (7.3):

$`\delta q^{}`$ $`=R\delta q^+,`$ $`7.4`$
$`\delta v^{}`$ $`=R\delta v^+2\mathrm{cos}\varphi RV_1^{}KV_1\delta q^+,`$
where $`V_1:(v^+)^{}𝒯_q`$ is the $`v^+`$-parallel projection of $`(v^+)^{}`$ onto $`𝒯_q`$. By using formula (7.4), one easily computes the time-evolution $`n^{}n^+`$ of a normal vector $`n^{}=(z,w)𝒯_y^{}𝕄`$ of $`J`$ if a collision $`y^{}y^+`$ takes place at time $`t=0`$:

$`(\delta q^+,\delta v^+)𝒯_{y^+}JR\delta q^+,z+R\delta v^+2\mathrm{cos}\varphi RV_1^{}KV_1\delta q^+,w`$ $`=0`$
$`\delta q^+,Rz2\mathrm{cos}\varphi V_1^{}KV_1Rw+\delta v^+,Rw`$ $`=0.`$
This means that

$$n^+=(Rz2\mathrm{cos}\varphi V_1^{}KV_1Rw,Rw)$$
$`7.5`$
if $`n^{}=(z,w)`$. It follows that

$`Q(n^+)`$ $`=Q(n^{})2\mathrm{cos}\varphi V_1^{}KV_1Rw,Rw`$ $`7.6`$
$`=Q(n^{})2\mathrm{cos}\varphi KV_1Rw,V_1RwQ(n^{}).`$
Here we used the fact that the second fundamental form $`K`$ of $``$ at $`q`$ is positive semi-definite, which just means that the billiard system is semi-dispersive.

The last simple observation on the quadratic form $`Q(n)`$ regards the involution $`I:𝕄𝕄`$, $`I(q,v)=(q,v)`$ corresponding to the time reversal. If $`n=(z,w)`$ is a normal vector of $`J`$ at $`y`$, then, obviously, $`I(n)=(z,w)`$ is a normal vector of $`I(J)`$ at $`I(y)`$ and

$$Q\left(I(n)\right)=Q(n).$$
$`7.7`$
By switching — if necessary — from the separating manifold $`J`$ to $`I(J)`$, and by taking a suitable remote image $`S^t(J)`$ ($`t>>1`$), in the spirit of (7.2), (7.6)–(7.7) we can assume that

$$Q(n)c_0^{}<0$$
$`7.8`$
uniformly for every unit normal vector $`n𝒯_y𝕄`$ of $`J`$ at any phase point $`yJ`$.

### Remark 7.9

There could be, however, a little difficulty in achieving the inequality $`Q(n)<0`$, i. e. (7.8). Namely, it may happen that $`Q(n_t)=0`$ for every $`t`$. According to (7.2), the equation $`Q(n_t)=0`$ ($`t`$) implies that $`n_t=:(z_t,w_t)=(0,w_t)`$ for all $`t`$ and, moreover, in the view of (7.5), $`w_t^+=Rw_t^{}`$ is the transformation law at any collision $`y_t=(q_t,v_t)𝕄`$. Furthermore, at every collision $`y_t=(q_t,v_t)𝕄`$ the projected tangent vector $`V_1Rw_t^{}=V_1w_t^+`$ lies in the null space of the operator $`K`$ (see also (7.5)), and this means that $`w_0`$ is a neutral vector for the entire trajectory $`S^{}y`$, i. e. $`w_0𝒩\left(S^{}y\right)`$. (For the notion of neutral vectors and $`𝒩\left(S^{}y\right)`$, cf. §§2.4 above.) On the other hand, this is impossible for the following reason: Any tangent vector $`(\delta q,\delta v)`$ from the space $`𝒩\left(S^{}y\right)\times 𝒩\left(S^{}y\right)`$ is automatically tangent to the separating manifold $`J`$ (as a direct inspection shows), thus for any normal vector $`n=(z,w)𝒯_y𝕄`$ of a separating manifold $`J`$ one has

$$(z,w)𝒩\left(S^{}y\right)^{}\times 𝒩\left(S^{}y\right)^{}.$$
$`7.10`$
The membership in (7.10) is, however, impossible with a nonzero vector $`w𝒩\left(S^{}y\right)`$. ∎

### Singularities

Consider a smooth, connected piece $`𝒮𝕄`$ of a singularity manifold corresponding to a singular (tangential or double) reflection in the future. Such a manifold $`𝒮`$ is locally flow-invariant and has one codimension, so we can speak about its normal vectors $`n`$ and the uniquely determined sign of $`Q(n)`$ for $`0n𝒯_y𝕄`$, $`y𝒮`$, $`n𝒮`$ (depending on the foot point, of course). Consider first a phase point $`y^{}𝕄`$ right before the singular reflection that is described by $`𝒮`$. It follows from the proof of Lemma 4.1 of \[K-S-Sz(1990)\] and Sub-lemma 4.4 therein that at $`y^{}=(q,v^{})𝕄`$ any tangent vector $`(0,\delta v)𝒯_y^{}𝕄`$ lies actually in $`𝒯_y^{}𝒮`$ and, consequently, the normal vector $`n=(z,w)𝒯_y^{}𝕄`$ of $`𝒮`$ at $`y^{}`$ necessarily has the form $`n=(z,0)`$, i. e. $`w=0`$. Thus $`Q(n)=0`$ for any normal vector $`n𝒯_y^{}𝕄`$ of $`𝒮`$. According to the monotonicity inequalities (7.2) and (7.6) above,

$$Q(n)>0$$
$`7.11`$
for any phase point $`y𝒮`$ of a future singularity manifold $`𝒮`$. As an immediate consequence of the inequalities (7.8) and (7.11), the summary of this section is

###### \bfProposition 7.12

In some neighborhood of any phase point $`x_0J`$ of a separating manifold $`J`$ (fulfilling (7.8) and conditions (0)—(3) at the end of §3 above) the manifold $`J`$ is uniformly transversal to any future singularity manifold $`𝒮`$. Here the phrase “uniform transversality” means that in some open neighborhood $`U_0`$ of $`x_0`$ it is true that all possible angles $`\alpha =\mathrm{}(𝒯_y𝒮,𝒯_zJ)`$ subtended by a tangent space $`𝒯_y𝒮`$ of a future singularity ($`yU_0𝒮`$, no matter what the order of the singularity) and a tangent space $`𝒯_zJ`$ are separated from zero.

## §8. Non-Existence of Separating Manifolds
Part E: Dynamical-Geometric Considerations

### The foliation

By using propositions 6.5 and 7.12, for any fixed, small number $`ϵ_0>0`$ let us consider a separating manifold $`J𝕄𝕄`$ enjoying all properties (0)—(3) from the end of §3 so that also the transversality property (the statement of Proposition 7.12) holds true for $`J`$ and, finally,

$`d(S^tJ,L(l_0))`$ $`ϵ_0t0,`$ $`8.1`$
$`\underset{\tau \mathrm{}}{lim}d(S^\tau y,L(l_0))`$ $`=0`$
for all $`yJ𝒮_J`$. (Recall that $`𝒮_J`$ denotes the set of all phase points $`yJ`$ with a singular forward orbit $`S^{(0,\mathrm{})}y`$.) The validity of the following proposition follows directly from Proposition 7.12 by also using the actual inequalities (7.8) and (7.11) leading to 7.12.

###### \bfProposition 8.2

For any separating manifold $`J`$ (enjoying all properties described above) there exists a non-empty, open subset $`G`$ of $`J`$ that admits a smooth foliation $`G=_{iI}F_i`$ by the curves $`F_i`$ with the following properties:

(1) The smooth curves $`F_i`$ are uniformly transversal to all future singularities $`𝒮`$, where uniformity is meant just as in Proposition 7.12;

(2) The curves $`F_i`$ are uniformly convex in the sense that for any (nonzero) tangent vector $`\tau =(\delta q,\delta v)𝒯_yF_i`$ ($`y=(q,v)F_i`$) it is true that $`\delta qv`$, $`\delta vv`$, and $`\delta q,\delta v/\delta q^2c_0>0`$ with some constant $`c_0>0`$ depending only on $`G`$;

(3) Write the components of the tangent vector $`0\tau =(\delta q,\delta v)𝒯_yF_i`$ in the form $`\delta q=\delta q^0+\delta q^{}`$, $`\delta v=\delta v^0+\delta v^{}`$, where $`\delta q_i^0,\delta v_i^0l_0`$, and $`\delta q_i^{},\delta v_i^{}l_0`$ for $`i=1,\mathrm{},N`$. Then it is true that

$$\mathrm{max}\{\frac{\delta q^0}{\delta q},\frac{\delta v^0}{\delta v}\}<\delta _0=\delta _0(ϵ_0)<<1.$$
$`8.3`$
Here the small number $`\delta _0=\delta _0(ϵ_0)`$ depends on $`ϵ_0`$ in such a way that it can be made arbitrarily small by selecting $`ϵ_0`$ small enough.

### Proof

We observe first that — since both $`J`$ and $`𝒮`$ are locally flow-invariant — for any normal vector $`n=(z,w)𝒯_y𝕄`$ of $`J`$ (of $`𝒮`$) it is automatically true that $`zv`$, $`wv`$, see Remark 7.9, particularly (7.10). (We always use the notation $`y=(q,v)`$.) We note that the orthogonality $`wv`$ is automatic, for any velocity variation $`w`$ of $`v`$ is necessarily perpendicular to $`v`$, due to the energy normalization $`v=1`$ in the phase space. The reason why the properties (1)—(3) above can, indeed, be achieved for a smooth foliation $`J=_{iI}F_i`$ ($`\text{dim}F_i=1`$) is as follows: The unit tangent vectors $`\tau =(\delta q,\delta v)𝒯_yJ`$ of the curves $`F_i`$ (yet to be constructed) have to be, first of all, perpendicular to the normal vector $`n=(z,w)𝒯_y𝕄`$ of $`J`$ at $`y=(q,v)J`$, the vectors $`\delta q`$, $`\delta v`$ have to come from the ortho-complement space $`v^{}`$ and, at the same time, the angles subtended by the vectors $`\tau `$ and the subspaces $`𝒯_y𝒮`$ ($`yJ`$) have to be separated from zero (uniform transversality). These things can be achieved simultaneously, according to the inequalities (7.8) and (7.11). The quadratic forms $`Q(\tau )=\delta q,\delta v`$ are indefinite on the space $`v^{}\times v^{}`$ and, consequently, the positivity condition in (2) still allows a non-empty, open region in $`𝒯_yJ\left(v^{}\times v^{}\right)`$ for the unit tangent vector $`\tau =(\delta q,\delta v)𝒯_yF_i`$. The uniform transversality of (1) is automatically achieved by the fact that $`Q(\tau )/\delta q^2`$ is separated from zero in (2). The last requirement (8.3) is independent of the former ones, and it still leaves a non-empty, open set of unit vectors $`\tau `$ for the construction of the leaves $`F_i`$. By integrating the arising, smooth distribution $`\tau (y)`$ ($`\tau (y)=1`$, $`yGJ`$, $`G\mathrm{}`$ is an open subset of $`J`$) on a small, open subset $`G`$ of $`J`$, we obtain a smooth foliation $`G=_{iI}F_i`$. Finally, the original separating manifold is to be replaced by $`G`$. ∎

### The expansion rate

Consider a non-zero tangent vector $`\tau (0)=(\delta q(0),\delta v(0))𝒯_yF_i`$ of the leaf $`F_i`$ at $`yF_i`$. Let us focus on the time-evolution of the so called infinitesimal Lyapunov function $`Q(t)=Q(\tau (t))=\delta q(t),\delta v(t)`$ ($`t0`$, $`\tau (t)=(DS^t)(\tau (0))`$) along the non-singular forward orbit $`S^{(0,\mathrm{})}y`$, $`yF_i𝒮_J`$. The time-evolution of $`\tau (t)=(\delta q(t),\delta v(t))`$ is governed by the equations (7.1) and (7.3). From those equations we immediately derive the following time-evolution equations for $`Q(t)`$ along $`S^{(0,\mathrm{})}y`$:

$$\frac{d}{dt}Q(t)=\delta v(t)^2\text{ (between collisions)},$$
$`8.4`$
$`Q(t+0)Q(t0)`$ $`=2\mathrm{cos}\varphi RV^{}KV\delta q(t0),R\delta q(t0)`$ $`8.5`$
$`=2\mathrm{cos}\varphi KV\delta q(t0),V\delta q(t0)0`$
if a collision takes place at time $`t`$. In (8.5) we used the well known fact that $`K0`$, i. e. the semi-dispersing property. The first consequence of (8.4)–(8.5) is that the infinitesimal Lyapunov function $`Q(t)`$ is non-decreasing in $`t`$. By the first equation of (7.3), the function $`\delta q(t)^2`$ is continuous in $`t`$ even at collisions. Its time-derivative between collisions is obtained from the second equation of (7.1):

$$\frac{d}{dt}\delta q(t)^2=2\delta q(t),\delta v(t)=2Q(t).$$
$`8.6`$
We note that, according to the canonical identification of the tangent vectors of $``$ along any trajectory (see §2 of \[K-S-Sz(1990)\], more precisely, the paragraph of that section beginning at the bottom of p. 538 and ending at the top of p. 539), in the second equation of (7.3) any tangent vector $`w𝒯_x^{}`$ gets identified with $`Rw𝒯_{x^+}`$ ($`x^{}=S^{t0}y`$, $`x^+=S^{t+0}y`$), and after this customary and natural identification the second line of (7.3) turns into

$$\delta v^+=\delta v^{}+2\mathrm{cos}\varphi V^{}KV\delta q^{}.$$
$`8.7`$
We recall that the symmetric operator $`V^{}KV`$ in (8.7) is nonnegative. The key to the understanding of the rate of increase of the function $`\delta q(t)^2`$ is that the initial velocity variation vector $`\delta v(0)`$ (a component of $`\tau (0)=(\delta q(0),\delta v(0))𝒯_yF_i`$) can be obtained as $`\delta v(0)=B(0)\delta q(0)`$ in such a way that the positive, symmetric operator $`B(0):v(0)^{}v(0)^{}`$ is the second fundamental form of a strictly convex, local orthogonal manifold $`\mathrm{\Sigma }y`$, and

$$B(0)c_0I,$$
$`8.8`$
see (2) in Proposition 8.2. Denote by $`B(t)`$ the positive definite second fundamental form of $`S^t\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ at the point $`S^ty`$, $`t0`$. The time-evolution of the operators $`B(t)`$ is governed by the equations (i)–(ii) of Proposition 2.3 in \[K-S-Sz(1990)\], see also the last displayed formula of §1 in \[S-Ch(1982)\], or formula (2) in §3 of \[S-Ch(1987)\]:

$$B(t+s)^1=B(t)^1+sI$$
$`8.9`$
for $`t,s0`$, provided that $`S^{[t,t+s]}y`$ is collision free, and

$$RB(t+0)R=B(t0)+2\mathrm{cos}\varphi V^{}KV$$
$`8.10`$
for a collision at time $`t`$. From $`\delta v(0)=B(0)\delta q(0)`$ we obtain

$$\frac{d}{dt}\delta q(t)=\delta v(t)=B(t)\delta q(t),$$
$`8.11`$
thus

$$\delta q(t)=\delta q(0)+_0^tB(s)\delta q(s)𝑑s$$
$`8.12`$
for all $`t0`$. The equations (8.8)–(8.10) and $`V^{}KV0`$ imply that

$$B(t)\frac{c_0}{1+c_0t}I\text{ for all }t0.$$
$`8.13`$
Therefore,

$`Q(t)=\delta q(t),\delta v(t)`$ $`=\delta q(t),B(t)\delta q(t)`$
$`\delta q(t),{\displaystyle \frac{c_0}{1+c_0t}}\delta q(t)`$ $`={\displaystyle \frac{c_0}{1+c_0t}}\delta q(t)^2,`$
so by (8.6) we have

$$\frac{d}{dt}\delta q(t)^2\frac{2c_0}{1+c_0t}\delta q(t)^2,$$
$`8.14`$
that is,

$$\frac{d}{dt}\mathrm{log}\delta q(t)^2\frac{2c_0}{1+c_0t}.$$
$`8.15`$
By integration we immediately obtain

$$\frac{\delta q(t)}{\delta q(0)}1+c_0t.$$
$`8.16`$
### Remark 8.17

It might be interesting to contemplate a bit about the fact that the lower estimation for $`\delta q(t)`$ is only linear in $`t`$. Apparently, the reason is that along a considered forward trajectory $`S^{[0,\mathrm{})}y\overline{U}_{ϵ_0}\left(L(l_0)\right)`$ the free path length is actually unbounded, and this fact is known to have the potential for spoiling any better estimation.

For us the utmost important inequality is the lower estimation (8.16) for the growth of $`\delta q(t)`$. The only shortcoming of (8.16) is that in the following proof we will need a sufficiently large coefficient of $`t`$ on the right-hand-side, instead of just $`c_0`$. However, this goal can be achieved as the proof of the following corollary shows.

###### \bfCorollary 8.18

For an arbitrarily big constant $`c_1>>1`$ one can find a non-empty, open subset $`GJ`$ (and can rename $`G`$ as $`J`$ afterward, as we always do) with the property that the foliation $`G=_{iI}F_i`$ of $`G`$ (given by the constructive proof of Proposition 8.2) can actually be constructed in such a way that the dilation constant $`c_0`$ in (2) (and in (8.16)) is replaced by the given number $`c_1`$.

### Proof

Select and fix a phase point $`y_0J`$ with a non-singular forward orbit $`S^{(0,\mathrm{})}y_0`$. First appropriately construct the unit tangent vector $`\tau =(\delta q,\delta v)𝒯_{y_0}F_i`$ of the curve $`F_i`$ (to be constructed). The constant $`c_0`$ in (2) is determined by the local geometry of $`J`$ around $`y_0`$, so it can be chosen to be the same for all $`yG_1`$ in a suitable neighborhood $`G_1`$ of $`y_0`$ in $`J`$. Now select a unit tangent vector $`\tau =(\delta q,\delta v)=(\delta q(0),\delta v(0))𝒯_{y_0}𝕄`$ by using the constructive proof of Proposition 8.2, and also select a time moment $`t_0>c_1/c_0^2`$ so that $`S^{t_0}y_0𝕄`$, i. e. $`t_0`$ is a moment of collision on the forward orbit $`S^{(0,\mathrm{})}y_0`$. Choose a very small $`ϵ_0^{}>0`$ so that $`S^{(t_0,t_0+ϵ_0^{}]}y_0𝕄=\mathrm{}`$. By (8.16)

$$\frac{\delta q(t_0+ϵ_0^{})}{\delta q(0)}>c_0t_0.$$
$`8.19`$
(Here, as always, we use the notation $`\tau (t)=(\delta q(t),\delta v(t))=(DS^t)(\tau (0))`$.) Clearly, there is an absolute constant $`c_2>0`$ such that the inequality

$$\frac{\left|\delta q_i(t_00)\delta q_j(t_00),l_0^{}\right|}{\delta q(t_00)}>c_2$$
$`8.20`$
can be achieved by suitably selecting the initial (unit) tangent vector $`\tau (0)𝒯_{y_0}𝕄`$. Here $`i`$ and $`j`$ are the labels of the two disks colliding at time $`t_0`$ on $`S^{(0,\mathrm{})}y_0`$. The reason why (8.20) can be achieved is that this inequality defines a non-empty, open cone in terms of $`\delta q(t_00)`$, and the mapping $`\delta q(0)\delta q(t_00)`$ is a linear bijection between $`v(0)^{}`$ and $`v(t_00)^{}`$ for any given family

$$\left\{(\delta q(0),B\delta q(0))\right|\delta q(0)v(0)\}$$

of tangent vectors, where $`B0`$ and

$$(\delta q(t_00),\delta v(t_00))=DS^{t_00}(\delta q(0),B\delta q(0)).$$

A consequence of (8.20) is that we obtain the estimation

$$B(t_0+ϵ_0^{})c_3I$$
$`8.21`$
of type (8.8) with an absolute constant $`c_3>0`$. We can assume that the original $`c_0`$ is smaller than $`c_3`$. Then the whole proof of Proposition 8.2 can be repeated for the sub-manifold $`S^{t_0+ϵ_0^{}}(G_2)`$ with some small, open neighborhood $`G_2`$ of $`y_0`$ in $`G_1`$ ($`y_0G_2G_1J`$). The arising foliation $`G_2=_{iI}F_i`$ will enjoy the property that the $`\delta q`$-expansion rate between $`t=0`$ and $`t=t_0+ϵ_0^{}`$ is greater than $`c_0t_0`$ (see also (8.19)), while this rate between $`t_0+ϵ_0^{}`$ and $`t`$ ($`t>>t_0`$) is at least $`c_3(tt_0ϵ_0^{})c_3t>c_0t`$. However, the product of these two lower estimations of the $`\delta q`$-expansion rates is equal to $`c_0^2t_0t`$, which is greater than $`c_1t`$ by the selection of $`t_0`$ ($`t_0>c_1/c_0^2`$). This concludes the proof of the corollary. ∎

### The invariant cone field

Now let us pay attention to the cones defined by the inequality (8.3) and the convexity condition $`\delta q,\delta v>0`$. For such tangent vectors $`\tau =(\delta q,\delta v)`$ use the usual decomposition $`\delta q=\delta q^0+\delta q^{}`$, $`\delta v=\delta v^0+\delta v^{}`$, just as in (3) of Proposition 8.2.

Along a forward orbit $`S^{[0,\mathrm{})}y\overline{U}_{ϵ_0}\left(L(l_0)\right)`$ the dilation effect of the billiard flow between two consecutive collisions is dramatically different for the tangent vectors $`\tau =(\delta q,\delta v)`$ with $`\delta q^{}=\delta v^{}=0`$ (but still $`\delta q,\delta v>0`$, as always in our considerations) and for the tangent vectors $`\tau =(\delta q,\delta v)`$ with $`\delta q^0=\delta v^0=0`$. By this dramatic difference we mean the following fact: Let $`yJ`$, $`S^{[0,\mathrm{})}y\overline{U}_{ϵ_0}\left(L(l_0)\right)`$, $`0<t_1<t_2`$ any two time moments for which $`S^{t_1}y𝕄`$, $`S^{t_2}y𝕄`$, and the non-singular orbit segment $`S^{[t_1,t_2]}y`$ has a connected collision graph. Assume that $`\tau (t_1)=(\delta q(t_1),\delta v(t_1))𝒯_{S^{t_1}y}𝕄`$, $`\rho (t_1)=(\delta \stackrel{~}{q}(t_1),\delta \stackrel{~}{v}(t_1))𝒯_{S^{t_1}y}𝕄`$ are two tangent vectors of $`𝕄`$ at $`S^{t_1}y`$ with the usual convexity property $`Q(\tau (t_1))>0`$, $`Q(\rho (t_1))>0`$. Assume, finally, that

$`\tau ^0(t_1)`$ $`=:(\delta q^0(t_1),\delta v^0(t_1))=(0,0),`$
$`\rho ^{}(t_1)`$ $`=:(\delta \stackrel{~}{q}^{}(t_1),\delta \stackrel{~}{v}^{}(t_1))=(0,0).`$
There is a constant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }>1`$ (independent of $`yJ`$, $`t_1`$, $`t_2`$, $`\tau (t_1)`$, and $`\rho (t_1)`$, depending only on $`N,m_1,\mathrm{},m_N`$, and $`ϵ_0`$) such that

$$\frac{\tau (t_2)}{\tau (t_1)}÷\frac{\rho (t_2)}{\rho (t_1)}\mathrm{\Lambda }.$$
$`8.22`$
The reasons why (8.22) holds true are as follows:

(1) All collision normal vectors of the trajectory segment $`S^{[t_1,t_2]}y`$ are almost parallel or orthogonal to the fixed lattice vector $`l_0`$. (The angular deviation from the exact parallelity or orthogonality is less than $`ϵ_0`$.) This means that the components $`\delta q`$, $`\delta v`$ of the tangent vectors $`DS^{tt_1}\left(\rho (t_1)\right)`$ which are almost parallel to $`l_0`$ will again be taken into such vectors by the orthogonal reflection part $`R(.)`$ (see (7.3)) of the linearization of the flow at any collision $`S^ty`$ ($`t_1<t<t_2`$), and an analogous statement holds true for the components $`\delta q`$, $`\delta v`$ of the tangent vectors $`DS^{tt_1}\left(\tau (t_1)\right)`$ which are almost perpendicular to $`l_0`$.

(2) The “scattering effect” of the linearized billiard flow at a collision $`S^ty`$ ($`t_1<t<t_2`$) (i. e. the term $`2\mathrm{cos}\varphi RV^{}KV\delta q^{}`$ in (7.3)) is almost perpendicular to $`l_0`$, and this vector is of higher order of magnitude for the $`\tau `$ vectors than for the $`\rho `$ vectors. Actually, the ratio of these two effects tends to infinity as $`ϵ_00`$.

A direct consequence of the above arguments is

###### \bfProposition 8.23

Use all of the above assumptions and notations, that is, that the collision graph of the non-singular orbit segment $`S^{[t_1,t_2]}y`$ is connected, $`yJ`$, $`0<t_1<t_2`$, $`S^{t_1}y𝕄`$, $`S^{t_2}y𝕄`$. We claim that the cone field $`𝒞(z)`$ ($`z=S^{t_1}y`$, $`yJ`$) defined by (8.3) and the convexity condition is invariant under the linearization of the billiard map $`DS^{t_2t_1}`$, that is, for any tangent vector $`\tau (t_1)𝒯_{S^{t_1}y}𝕄`$ ($`yJ`$) with $`Q\left(\tau (t_1)\right)>0`$ and (8.3) it is true that $`Q\left(\tau (t_2)\right)>0`$ and (8.3) still holds for $`\tau (t_2)`$.

Finally, let us investigate the extent to which the inequality (8.3) can be spoiled by the free flight between collisions. Use all the notations from above. Consider a tangent vector $`\tau (t_1+0)=(\delta q(t_1+0),\delta v(t_1+0))𝒞\left(S^{t_1}y\right)`$ ($`yJ𝒮_J`$, $`t_1>0`$ is a moment of collision on $`S^{(0,\mathrm{})}y`$, $`S^{(0,\mathrm{})}y\overline{U}_{ϵ_0}\left(L(l_0)\right)`$) of the cone field $`𝒞`$. Let, furthermore, $`t`$ be a positive number with $`t<t_2t_1`$ ($`0<t_1<t_2`$ are the time moments of two consecutive collisions on $`S^{(0,\mathrm{})}y`$). Then we claim

###### \bfProposition 8.24

Use all the above notations. The inequalities

$$\frac{\delta q^0(t_1+t)}{\delta q(t_1+t)}<\sqrt{2}\delta _0,$$
$`8.25`$
$$\frac{\delta v^0(t_1+t)}{\delta v(t_1+t)}<\delta _0$$
$`8.26`$
hold true.

### Proof

By the time-evolution equations (7.1) (which hold separately for $`\delta q^0`$, $`\delta v^0`$ on one hand, and $`\delta q^{}`$, $`\delta v^{}`$ on the other hand) we have that $`\delta v(t_1+t)=\delta v(t_1+0)`$, $`\delta v^0(t_1+t)=\delta v^0(t_1+0)`$, thus (8.26) is obviously true. The convexity condition

$$\delta q(t_1+0),\delta v(t_1+0)>0$$

immediately provides the inequality

$$\delta q(t_1+0)+t\delta v(t_1+0)>\sqrt{\delta q(t_1+0)^2+t^2\delta v(t_1+0)^2}.$$
$`8.27`$
By the triangle inequality and by the assumption $`\tau (t_1+0)𝒞\left(S^{t_1}y\right)`$ we have that

$$\delta q^0(t_1+0)+t\delta v^0(t_1+0)<\delta _0\left(\delta q(t_1+0)+t\delta v(t_1+0)\right).$$
$`8.28`$
Combining the inequalities (8.27)–(8.28) with the trivial inequality

$$a+b\sqrt{2(a^2+b^2)}a,b0,$$

one gets

$$\frac{\delta q^0(t_1+t)}{\delta q(t_1+t)}<\frac{\delta _0\left(\delta q(t_1+0)+t\delta v(t_1+0)\right)}{\sqrt{\delta q(t_1+0)^2+t^2\delta v(t_1+0)^2}}\sqrt{2}\delta _0,$$

which finishes the proof of the proposition. ∎

###### \bfCorollary 8.29. (Corollary of (8.16) and propositions 8.23–8.24)

For any tangent vector $`\tau =(\delta q(0),\delta v(0))𝒞(y)`$ ($`yJ𝒮_J`$, $`S^{(0,\mathrm{})}y\overline{U}_{ϵ_0}\left(L(l_0)\right)`$) it is true that

$$\underset{t\mathrm{}}{lim}\frac{\delta q^0(t)}{\delta q(t)}=0.$$

### Frequency of collisions (Frequency of singularities)

Denote by $`\mathrm{\#}\left(S^{[a,b]}y\right)`$ the number of collisions on the non-singular trajectory segment $`S^{[a,b]}y`$. Assume that the non-degeneracy condition of Corollary 1.1 of \[B-F-K(1998)\] holds true at all phase points $`x𝕄`$ lying close enough to the limiting set $`L(l_0)`$. This condition at a boundary phase point $`x𝕄`$ essentially means that the spatial angle subtended by $`\text{int}𝕄`$ at $`x`$ is positive. It is easy to see that this positive-angle condition can only be violated if either

(i) $`2r|H_i|`$ is equal to the length $`l_0`$ of the closed geodesic of $`𝕋^2`$ in the direction of the vector $`l_0`$, (The vector $`l_0`$ is supposed to be non-divisible in $`^2`$.);

or

(ii) $`2rk`$ is equal to the width of the torus $`𝕋^2`$ in the direction of the perpendicular vector $`l_0^{}`$.

Recall that $`k`$ denotes the number of different groups of disks $`H_i`$, see the paragraph right before (6.2). The width of $`𝕋^2`$ in the direction of $`l_0^{}`$ is, by definition, equal to the length of the shortest vector in the orthogonal projection of $`^2`$ onto the line spanned by $`l_0^{}`$. (This length is just the reciprocal of $`l_0`$.)

There are only countably many values of the radius $`r`$ for which either (i) or (ii) is true, and those exceptional values may be discarded without narrowing the scope of our Theorem.

It follows from Corollary 1.1 of \[B-F-K(1998)\] that there exists a constant $`c_4^{}=c_4^{}(N,r,m_1,\mathrm{},m_N)>0`$ (depending only on the geometry of the hard disk system) such that $`\mathrm{\#}\left(S^{[a,a+1]}y\right)c_4^{}`$ for all non-singular orbit segments $`S^{[a,a+1]}y`$. Consequently, there exists another constant $`c_4=c_4(N,r,m_1,\mathrm{},m_N)>0`$ such that

$$\mathrm{\#}\left(S^{[a,a+t]}y\right)c_4\text{max}\{t,\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}\}$$
$`8.30`$
for all non-singular trajectory segments $`S^{[a,a+t]}y`$.

### Sinai’s idea: “Expansion prevails over chopping” (Finishing the proof of the Theorem)

Take a large constant $`c_1>>1`$ and, by using Corollary 8.18 above, consider a smooth foliation $`J=_{iI}F_i`$ by curves $`F_i`$ fulfilling all conditions listed in Proposition 8.2 in such a way that the expansion constant $`c_0`$ in (8.16) is actually the large constant $`c_1`$. Later in the proof we will see how large the constant $`c_1`$ should actually be chosen in order that the whole proof of the Theorem works. Pick up a single curve $`F_{i_0}=F_0J`$ of the foliation $`J=_{iI}F_i`$. On the curve $`F_0`$ itself and on the connected components of its forward images $`S^t(F_0)`$ we will be measuring the distances by using the so called $`z`$-distance introduced by Chernov and Sinai (cf. Lemma 2 and the preceding paragraph in §4 of \[S-Ch(1987)\]) defined as follows:

$$z(y_1,y_2)=:_{y_1}^{y_2}dq$$
$`8.31`$
for points $`y_1,y_2`$ of a connected component $`\gamma `$ of the image $`S^t(F_0)`$. The integral in (8.31) is taken on the segment of $`\gamma `$ connecting $`y_1`$ and $`y_2`$. Set

$$S(t)=\left\{yF_0\right|S^{[0,t]}y\text{ contains at least one singular collision}\}.$$
$`8.32`$
By (1) of Proposition 8.2 we see that $`F_0`$ intersects any future singularity manifold $`𝒮`$ in at most one point, and the number of such singularity manifolds until time $`t`$ is at most $`c_4t`$ by (8.30), so we get the following upper estimation for the cardinality $`k(t)`$ of the set $`S(t)`$:

$$k(t)=:\left|S(t)\right|c_4t\text{ for all }t1.$$
$`8.33`$
(We are only interested in large values of $`t`$.) Let

$$F_0S(t)=_{p=1}^{k(t)+1}I_p^{(t)}$$

be the decomposition of the open set $`F_0S(t)`$ into its connected components. Select a positive constant $`c_5`$ (for its actual value, see below), and define

$$B(t)=\left\{I_p^{(t)}\right|\left|I_p^{(t)}\right|_z<c_5/t\}.$$
$`8.34`$
Here the length $`\left|I_p^{(t)}\right|_z`$ of $`I_p^{(t)}`$ is measured by using the $`z`$-metric of (8.31). From (8.33)–(8.34) we obtain the estimation

$$\mu _z\left(B(t)\right)<\frac{c_5}{t}c_4t=c_4c_5<\frac{1}{2}\mu _z(F_0),$$
$`8.35`$
as long as the constant $`c_5>0`$ is selected so that $`c_5<\mu _z(F_0)/(2c_4)`$. Here $`\mu _z`$ is the Lebesgue measure on the curve $`F_0`$ defined by the distance parametrization $`z`$ from (8.31). We recall that the foliation $`J=_{iI}F_i`$ (and, consequently, the chosen curve $`F_0`$, as well) depends on the constant $`c_1`$. For any component $`I_p^{(t)}G(t)=:F_0\overline{B(t)}`$ we have $`\left|I_p^{(t)}\right|_zc_5/t`$, and by (8.16) (with $`c_0`$ replaced by $`c_1`$) we get the estimation

$$\mu _z\left(S^t\left(I_p^{(t)}\right)\right)>c_1t\frac{c_5}{t}=c_1c_5.$$
$`8.36`$
Use the shorthand notation $`\gamma _p=S^t\left(I_p^{(t)}\right)`$ for any $`I_p^{(t)}`$, $`I_p^{(t)}G(t)`$. By the invariance of the cone field $`𝒞(z)`$ along any trajectory $`S^{(0,\mathrm{})}y\overline{U}_{ϵ_0}\left(L(l_0)\right)`$ (with the additional features $`lim_t\mathrm{}d(S^ty,L(l_0))=0`$, $`yJ𝒮_J`$), see particularly Corollary 8.29, it is true that the integral $`_{\gamma _p}dq`$ is asymptotically the same as $`_{\gamma _p}\left|dq,l_0^{}\right|`$ and, accordingly, $`_{\gamma _p}dv`$ is also asymptotically the same as $`_{\gamma _p}\left|dv,l_0^{}\right|`$, where $`l_0^{}^2`$ is a formerly selected unit vector perpendicular to the lattice vector $`l_0`$ defining $`L(l_0)`$. What is even more, the scattering property of the hard disk system along the studied orbits $`S^{(0,\mathrm{})}y`$ ($`yF_0`$) is such that there exists a constant $`c_6=c_6(N,r,m_1,\mathrm{},m_N)`$ (again depending only on the geometry of the hard disk system) such that

$$_{\gamma _p}\left|dv,l_0^{}\right|c_6_{\gamma _p}dq>c_1c_5c_6=:100c_7.$$
$`8.37`$
(In the second inequality we used (8.36).) Use the shorthand $`c_7=:{\displaystyle \frac{c_1c_5c_6}{100}}`$ in (8.37). By reversing the simple dilation argument based upon (8.16) (with $`c_0`$ replaced by $`c_1`$) and leading to (8.36), we get that for any pair of points $`y_1,y_2\gamma _pU_{c_7}\left(L(l_0)\right)`$ ($`U_{c_7}\left(L(l_0)\right)`$ denotes the open $`c_7`$-neighborhood of the compact set $`L(l_0)`$) it is true that

$$_{y_1}^{y_2}\left|dv,l_0^{}\right|2c_7$$

and, consequently,

$$z(S^ty_1,S^ty_2)<\frac{c_5}{50t}.$$
$`8.38`$
Set $`C(t)=:F_0S^t\left(U_{c_7}\left(L(l_0)\right)\right)`$. An immediate consequence of (8.38) is that

$$\frac{\mu _z\left(C(t)I_p^{(t)}\right)}{\mu _z\left(I_p^{(t)}\right)}\frac{1}{50}$$
$`8.39`$
for all $`I_p^{(t)}`$, $`I_p^{(t)}G(t)=:F_0\overline{B(t)}`$. Consequently,

$$\frac{\mu _z\left(C(t)G(t)\right)}{\mu _z\left(G(t)\right)}\frac{1}{50},$$

thus

$$\mu _z\left(C(t)\right)<\left(\frac{1}{2}+\frac{1}{50}\right)\mu _z(F_0),$$
$`8.40`$
by also using (8.35). By Proposition 6.5, however, we have that

$$\underset{t\mathrm{}}{lim}\mu _z\left(C(t)\right)=\mu _z(F_0),$$

in contradiction with (8.40). This step completes the proof of the non-existence of any separating manifold $`J`$, thereby finishing the whole proof of the Theorem. ∎

## §9. Concluding Remarks

### 9.1 Irrational Mass Ratio

Due to the natural reduction $`_{i=1}^Nm_iv_i=0`$ (which we always assume), in §1 we had to factorize out the configuration space with respect to spatial translations: $`(q_1,\mathrm{},q_N)(q_1+a,\mathrm{},q_N+a)`$ for all $`a𝕋^2`$. It is a remarkable fact, however, that (despite the reduction $`_{i=1}^Nm_iv_i=0`$) even without this translation factorization the system still retains the Bernoulli mixing property, provided that the masses $`m_1,\mathrm{},m_N`$ are rationally independent. (We note that dropping the above mentioned configuration factorization obviously introduces $`2`$ zero Lyapunov exponents.) For the case $`N=2`$ (i. e. two disks) this was proved in \[S-W(1989)\] by successfully applying D. Rudolph’s theorem on the B-property of isometric group extensions of Bernoulli shifts \[R(1978)\].

Suppose that we are given a dynamical system $`(M,T,\mu )`$ with a probability measure $`\mu `$ and an automorphism $`T`$. Assume that a compact metric group $`G`$ is also given with the normalized Haar measure $`\lambda `$ and left invariant metric $`\rho `$. Finally, let $`\phi :MG`$ be a measurable map. Consider the skew product dynamical system $`(M\times G,S,\mu \times \lambda )`$ with $`S(x,g)=(Tx,\phi (x)g)`$, $`xM`$, $`gG`$. We call the system $`(M\times G,S,\mu \times \lambda )`$ an isometric group extension of the base (or factor) $`(M,T,\mu )`$. (The phrase “isometric” comes from the fact that the left translations $`\phi (x)g`$ are isometries of the group $`G`$.) Rudolph’s mentioned theorem claims that the isometric group extension $`(M\times G,S,\mu \times \lambda )`$ enjoys the B-mixing property as long as it is at least weakly mixing and the factor system $`(M,T,\mu )`$ is a B-mixing system.

But how do we apply this theorem to show that the system of $`N`$ hard disks on $`𝕋^2`$ with $`_{i=1}^Nm_iv_i=0`$ is a Bernoulli flow, even if we do not make the factorization (of the configuration space) with respect to spatial translations? It is simple. The base system $`(M,T,\mu )`$ of the isometric group extension $`(M\times G,S,\mu \times \lambda )`$ will be the time-one map of the factorized (with respect to spatial translations) hard disk system. The group $`G`$ will be just the container torus $`𝕋^2`$ with its standard Euclidean metric $`\rho `$ and normalized Haar measure $`\lambda `$. The second component $`g`$ of a phase point $`y=(x,g)M\times G`$ will be just the position of the center of the (say) first disk in $`𝕋^2`$. Finally, the governing translation $`\phi (x)𝕋^2`$ is quite naturally the total displacement

$$\frac{}{\frac{0}{1v_1(x_t)dt(\text{mod }^2)}}$$

of the first particle while unity of time elapses. In the previous sections the B-mixing property of the factor map $`(M,T,\mu )`$ has been proved successfully for typical geometric parameters $`(m_1,\mathrm{},m_N;r)`$. Then the key step in proving the B-property of the isometric group extension $`(M\times G,S,\mu \times \lambda )`$ is to show that the latter system is weakly mixing. This is just the essential contents of the paper \[S-W(1989)\], and it takes advantage of the assumption of rational independence of the masses. Here we are only presenting to the reader the outline of that proof. As a matter of fact, we not only proved the weak mixing property of the extension $`(M\times G,S,\mu \times \lambda )`$, but we showed that this system has in fact the K-mixing property by proving that the Pinsker partition $`\pi `$ of $`(M\times G,S,\mu \times \lambda )`$ is trivial. (The Pinsker partition is, by definition, the finest measurable partition of the dynamical system with respect to which the factor system has zero metric entropy. A dynamical system is K-mixing if and only if its Pinsker partition is trivial, i. e. it consists of only sets with measure zero and one, see \[K-S-F(1980)\].) In order to show that the Pinsker partition is trivial, in \[S-W(1989)\] we constructed a pair of measurable partitions $`(\xi ^s,\xi ^u)`$ for $`(M\times G,S,\mu \times \lambda )`$ made up by open and connected sub-manifolds of the local stable and unstable manifolds, respectively. It followed by standard methods (see \[Sin(1968)\]) that the partition $`\pi `$ is coarser than each of $`\xi ^s`$ and $`\xi ^u`$. Due to the $`S`$-invariance of $`\pi `$, we have that $`\pi `$ is coarser than

$$\frac{}{\frac{nS^n\xi ^s}{nS^n\xi ^u.}}$$
$`9.2`$
In the final step, by using now the rational independence of the masses, we showed that the partition in $`(9.2)`$ is, indeed, trivial.

### 9.3 The role of Proposition 3.1

By taking a look at §3, we can see that Proposition 3.1 (with its rather involved algebraic proof) was only used to prove the so-called Chernov-Sinai Ansatz, an important, necessary condition of the Theorem on Local Ergodicity. It is exactly the algebraic proof of Proposition 3.1 that necessitates the dropping of a null set of geometric parameters $`(m_1,\mathrm{},m_N;r)`$ in such an implicit way that for any given $`(N+1)`$-tuple $`(m_1,\mathrm{},m_N;r)`$ one cannot tell (based upon the presented methods) if that $`(N+1)`$-tuple belongs to the exceptional null set, or not. This is a pity, indeed, since we cannot make it sure (for any specified $`(N+1)`$-tuple $`(m_1,\mathrm{},m_N;r)`$) that the billiard flow $`(𝕄,\{S^t\}_t,\mu )`$ is ergodic. Thus, it would be really pleasant to find any other way of proving the Ansatz in order to avoid the necessary dropping of a null set of parameters. Most experts are absolutely convinced that, in fact, this exceptional null set is actually empty, i. e. $`(𝕄,\{S^t\}_t,\mu )`$ is ergodic for every $`(N+1)`$-tuple $`(m_1,\mathrm{},m_N;r)`$).

Without Proposition 3.1, the results of §4–8 (the non-existence of the exceptional $`J`$-manifold) are easily seen to yield the following, relaxed version of the Chernov-Sinai Ansatz:

###### Proposition 9.4 (Ansatz, relaxed version)

The closed set $`B𝒮^+`$ of phase points $`x𝒮^+`$ with non-sufficient semi-orbit $`S^{(0,\mathrm{})}x`$ is of first category in any $`(2d3)`$-dimensional cell $`C`$ of $`𝒮^+`$, which is now equivalent to saying that $`B`$ has an empty interior in $`C`$.

### Acknowledgement

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the referee of the paper for making a large number of very useful remarks and suggestions which significantly raised the quality of this work.