On the derivation of a linear Boltzmann equation from a periodic lattice gas (Q2485762): Difference between revisions

The authors consider the plane Lorentz process in which particles are scattered by obstacles which are hard spheres (or rather disks) of radius \(\varepsilon\) distributed on a lattice, and study situations in which the linear Boltzmann equation can be obtained as the limit this Lorentz process as \(\varepsilon \to 0\). It has been known that this is the case when the obstacles of diameter \(\varepsilon\) are distributed in the plane according to the Poisson law with density \(\varepsilon^{-1}\). On the other hand, it fails to be true for obstacles distributed on a purely periodic lattice, even if the ratio between obstacle size and the lattice parameter is formally right. This is due to possible occurrence of too long free trajectories. In the reviewed paper the authors prove that the Boltzmann equation can be derived as the Boltzmann-Grad limit when the lattice parameter is \(\varepsilon^\nu\) and the probability of finding a scatterer at a lattice site is \(\varepsilon^{2\nu-1}\) with \(1/2<\nu\leq 1\). This case is intermediate between cases studied in [\textit{E. Cagliotti, M. Pulvirenti} and \textit{M. Ricci}, Markov Process Relat. Fields 6, 265--285 (2000; Zbl 1013.82012) and \textit{J. Bourgain, F. Golse} and \textit{B. Wennberg}, Commun. Math. Phys. 190, No. 3, 491--508 (1998; Zbl 0910.60082)].