Ellipses characterized by four-cusp caustics

Let γ\gamma be a planar billiard table that is not an ellipse. For a light source chosen inside γ\gamma, let Γn\Gamma_n be the caustic by reflection after nn reflections, with n1n\geq 1. Four-cusp characterization conjecture. For some choice of the light source inside γ\gamma and some n1n\geq 1, the caustic Γn\Gamma_n has more than four cusps. This is the second conjecture presented in the paper and is described there as potentially over-optimistic; no resolution is supplied.

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Primary source

Gil Bor and Serge Tabachnikov, “On cusps of caustics by reflection: a billiard variation on Jacobi's Last Geometric Statement”, arXiv:2112.07852 (2021).

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