Linear diffusive limit of deterministic systems of hard spheres (Q2450276)

The purpose of this paper is to describe the macroscopic behaviour of a gas consisting of \(N\) interacting particles, with positions and velocities, by a linear Boltzmann equation for tagged particles, with initial data and hard-sphere cross-section, in a low density Lorentz gas, where the obstacles obey a Poisson distribution, and have no dynamics. The working method is to improve \textit{O. E. Lanford~III}'s results [Lect. Notes Phys. 38, 1--111 (1975; Zbl 0329.70011)]; locally the \(N\)-particle distribution should therefore look like a conditioned tensorized Maxwellian. The proof use the Liouville equation in phase space, Gibbs measure, Green's formula, Duhamel formula, Cauchy-Schwarz inequalities, Markov chains, and heat equation. Several extensions of the main theorems are considered.