The diffusion approximation for the linear Boltzmann equation with vanishing scattering coefficient (Q2348472)

This paper studies diffusion approximations for the linear time-dependent Boltzmann equation with homogeneous inflow boundary conditions. The particular difficulty here is that the scattering coefficient is allowed to vanish on closed subsets \(B_l\) of \(\mathbb{R}^n\). In regions where the scattering coefficient is uniformly positive, i.e., the complement of the sets \(B_l\), the limit is determined as a solution to a diffusion equation. The diffusion approximation is closed by continuity equations on \(B_l\). The authors assume that a semi-detailed balance condition is satisfied for the scattering kernel. The proofs are based on Fredholm's alternative and energy estimates. The paper closes with a discussion about possible extensions of the results, which includes small absorption terms, small source terms, specular or diffuse reflection boundary conditions, and non-homogeneous inflow boundary conditions.