Determination of the spectral gap for Kac's master equation and related stochastic evolution. (Q1886149)

This paper contains significant new results as well as a nice review of the subject. The authors study the asymptotic behaviour of many-particle systems related to the nonlinear Boltzmann equation governing rarefied gas flows. Such systems are subject to random binary interactions with some conservation properties (energy, momentum). The speed of approach to equilibrium is determined by the spectral gap of a certain transition operator. The paper provides lower bounds for the spectral gap of several models. In particular, it is established that this quantity remains strictly positive when the number of particles tends to infinity. Section 1 contains a very instructive introduction providing the basic ideas and the main results for the ``Kac model''. This is a much simplified one-dimensional model called ``Kac's caricature of a Maxwellian gas'' by McKean. In this case sharp lower bounds for the spectral gap are obtained. In addition to the historical comments given in the paper, the reviewer suggests Section 2.3.3 of the recent monograph by \textit{S. Rjasanow} and \textit{W. Wagner} [``Stochastic numerics for the Boltzmann equation'' (2005; Zbl 1155.82021)]. In Section 2 the notion of a ``Kac system'' is introduced. Here several general features are identified to be used later in the analysis of different specific models. Section 3 is devoted to the original Kac model. Here the theorems stated in the introduction are proved. Section 4 is the longest part (almost one third) of the paper. Here the ``Boltzmann model'' with three-dimensional momentum- and energy-conserving collisions is analyzed. It is shown that there is a strictly positive lower bound of the spectral gap. Sections 5 and 6 contain sharp lower bounds for two specific models. These results illustrate the significance of the general ideas. Finally, Section 7 contains particular results concerning the eigenfunctions for the Kac model.