A hierarchy of heat conduction laws (Q6066313)

In the present paper, the authors aim to generate a set of equations that describe the temperature evolution in a rigid heat conductor. This is achieved by introducing a hierarchy of heat laws, which at the \(n\)-th step involve the \(n\)-th antiderivative of the relative temperature. The heat laws include memory terms described by convolution integrals, which have a non-local character in time, and integral perturbations. The laws are justified by means of an inductive argument starting from the law of order 1, which, in turn, is derived starting from the Fourier law. A list of well-known evolution equations can be obtained as particular cases.