A particle method for collisional kinetic equations. I: Basic theory and one-dimensional results (Q921880)

A particle method for the collisional kinetic equations is considered and a new approach is introduced for describing the collisional term in the framework of a particle scheme. That method is a Lagrangian description of the kinetic equation and has the advantage of being deterministic. The contribution of the collisions is taken into account by an additional term in the equations of motion which can be added to an existent code treating the collisionless case. The method is examined in detail for the one-dimensional space homogeneous problems, i.e., the heat equation and the diffusion equation. Simplified models of a Fokker-Planck equation and a Boltzmann-like equation are also considered.