Moment closure approximations of the Boltzmann equation based on \(\varphi \)-divergences (Q315643)

The purpose of this paper is to find numerical approximations of Boltzmanns equation by using moments, which is not an easy task considering its high dimensional setting. First the exponential function is approximated by its standard limit definition. Then several approximation methods are outlined: Galerkin approximation, Levermore's entropy, and Grad's muliple Hermite polynomial expansion. The divergence-based Tsallis \(q\)-exponential expansion is described, and compared with the Levermore renormalization map. Finally, \(\varphi\)-divergence minimization and symmetric hyperbolicity are considered. Numerical results in one dimension are plotted.