A note on the kinetic equations of coagulation (Q1188454)

The paper is devoted to a new derivation of the Leyvras and Tschudi solution of the classical Smoluchowski-Flori-Stockmayer discrete equations of coagulation (see precise references in the paper under review). The equations under consideration are \[ C_ j=\tfrac12\sum^{j-1}_{k=1}(j-k)kc_{j-k}c_ k-jc_ j\rho(t) \] for \(j=1,2,\dots\) with the initial data \(c_ 1(0)=1\), \(c_ j(0)=0\), \(2\leq j<\infty\). The function \(c_ j(t)\geq 0\) denotes the expected number of clusters consisting of \(j\) particles per unit of volume, \(j=1,2,\dots\). The quantity \(\rho(t)=\sum^ \infty_{k=1}kc_ k(t)\) is the total density. The main idea of the paper is a conversion of this initial value problem into another one of looking for a fixed point \(\rho\) of a nonlinear integral equation \[ t\rho(t)=\sum^ \infty_{j=1}{j^{j-1}\left(t\exp(-\int^ \infty_ 0\rho(\tau)\,d\tau)\right)^ j \over j!}. \] The solution of the last equation is provided via a summation identity applied to the right-hand side of this equation. The author hopes that such approach may be of use to solve other problems involving cluster dynamics and gelation in both the discrete and continuous cases.