Sharp anisotropic estimates for the Boltzmann collision operator and its entropy production (Q550395)

This article deals with the physical Boltzmann equation and proves new sharp anisotropic fractional derivative estimates for the Boltzmann collision operator. In particular, the main focus is on the study of the sharp diffusive, anisotropic fractional effects induced by this operator under fully general physical assumptions on the collision kernel. These new estimates prove that the global diffusive behavior in the energy space is that of the geometric fractional derivative semi-norm already identified by the authors in earlier works [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 107, No. 13, 5744--5749 (2010; Zbl 1205.82120); J. Am. Math. Soc. 24, No. 3, 771--847 (2011; Zbl 1248.35140)]. Furthermore they prove new global entropy production estimates with the same anisotropic semi-norm. With their results the authors resolve the longstanding, widespread heuristic conjecture about the sharp diffusive nature of the non-cut-off Boltzmann collision operator in the \(L^2\) energy space.