Classical and quantum chaos of the wedge billiard. I. Classical mechanics

In this first of two papers on the classical-quantum correspondence of the wedge billiard, the classical mechanics for wedge angles giving hard chaos is described. Attention is focused on the periodic orbits of the system, all of which are known to be unstable. Each primitive periodic orbit has been found to correspond uniquely to a sequence of two symbols, except for certain orbits of the 60° wedge that go directly into the vertex. However, …