The role of the central limit theorem in discovering sharp rates of convergence to equilibrium for the solution of the Kac equation (Q968772)

Loosely speaking, the paper deals with the convergence of the solution of the Kac equation to the normal law, which is here characterized by the total variation distance (or total deviation) between these probability densities. In a previous paper [Ann. Appl. Probab. 19, No. 1, 186--209 (2009; Zbl 1163.60007)] the authors showed that this total deviation is upper bounded by \(Cexp{-(1/4)t}\) where \(C\) is a constant which depends upon the physical system. Here, and it is the main result of the paper, they show that the total deviation is also lower bounded by an exponential which decreases with the same rate.