Asymptotics of a solution of an \(N\)-partial Liouville equation for large \(N\) and refutation of the chaos hypothesis for density functions (Q1905275)

The authors consider the question whether the \(N\)-particle density function \(\rho_N\), which solves the Liouville equation \(\partial_t \rho_N= \{H_N, \rho_N\}\), decomposes into a product of 1-particle distribution functions in the limit \(N\to \infty\), at any time \(t\), provided we assume this asymptotic decomposition holds for \(t=0\). This would generalize the so-called ``chaos hypothesis'', which deals with the decomposition of the \(k\)-particle marginal distribution function, with fixed \(k\). The authors answer the question in the negative, by announcing the following results: (1) the decomposition of \(\rho_N\) may fail; (2) there is a formula for the \(L^1\)-limit of \(\rho_N (t)\) for Hamiltonians with smooth interactions with slow growth.