Hydrodynamic limit of the Boltzmann equation with contact discontinuities (Q982443)

The authors of this interesting paper consider the Boltzmann equation [\textit{L. Boltzmann}, Wien. Ber. 66, 275--370 (1872; JFM 04.0566.01)] with slab symmetry: \[ f_t+\xi_1f_x= \varepsilon^{-1}Q(f,f), \;\;(f,x,t,\xi )\in \mathbb{R}\times\mathbb{R} \times\mathbb{R}^{+}\times\mathbb{R}^{3},\eqno{(*)} \] where \(\xi =(\xi_1,\xi_2,\xi_3)\in\mathbb{R}^3\), \(f (x, t,\xi )\) is the density distribution function of the particles at time \(t\) and space \(x\) with velocity \(\xi \), and \(\varepsilon > 0\) is the Knudsen number which is proportional to the mean free path. This equation describes the motion of rarefied gases. It is a basic equation in statistics physics. The hydrodynamic limit for the considered equation is studied here in the case of interest when the limit system, that is, the system of Euler equations contains contact discontinuities. Note that when the Knudsen number \(\varepsilon \) tends to zero, the limit of the Boltzmann equation is the classical system of Euler equations (4 conservation laws): \[ \begin{aligned} \rho_t+(\rho u)_x = 0, \;\;(\rho u_1)_t+(\rho u_{1}^{2}+p)_x & = 0, \\ (\rho u_i)_t+(\rho u_{1}u_{i})_x = 0 \;\;(i=2,3), \\ \bigl(\rho (E+|u|^2/2)\bigr)_t+ \bigl(\rho u_{1}(E+|u|^2/2)+pu_1\bigr)_x & = 0 \end{aligned}\eqno{(**)} \] where \(\rho \) -- the density, \(u=(u_1,u_2,u_3)\) -- the macroscopic velocity, \(E\) -- the internal energy, and \(p=R\rho \theta \), \(R\) -- the gas constant. In the Lagrangian coordinates both systems \((\ast )\) and \((\ast\ast )\) take the following simpler form: \[ f_t-(u_1/v)f_x +(\xi_1/v)f_x = \varepsilon^{-1}Q(f,f),\tag{A} \] and \[ \begin{aligned} v_t+(u_1)_x = 0, \;\;(u_1)_t+p_x = 0, \;\;(u_i)_t = 0 \;\;(i=2,3)\\ (\theta +|u|^2/2)_t+(pu_{1})_x = 0. \end{aligned}\tag{B} \] Then the authors state the following: Given a contact discontinuity solution \((\bar{V},\bar{U},\bar{\Theta })(x,t)\) of \((B)\), there exist small positive constants \(\delta_0\), \(\varepsilon_0\) and a global Maxwellian \(M_{\ast }\), such that if \(\delta\leq \delta_0\), \(\varepsilon\leq\varepsilon_0 \), then the Boltzmann equation \((\ast )\) admits a unique global solution \(f^{\varepsilon } (x, t, \xi )\) satisfying an integral inequality. Note that the Maxwellian \(M(x, t, \xi ) = M_{[\rho ,u,\theta ]} (\xi )\) represents the macroscopic (fluid) component of the solution, which is naturally defined by the five conserved quantities.