Power-law distributions for the free path length in Lorentz gases

DOI10.1007/S10955-014-0935-9MaRDI QIDQ2511540zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Jens Marklof, Andreas Strömbergsson

Publication date 6 August 2014

Published in Journal of Statistical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1310.0328

zbMATH Keywords

Boltzmann-Grad limitdisordered scatterersEuclidean lattice obstaclesfree path lengthlinear Boltzmann equationLorentz gasRatner's measure classification theorem

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Interacting random processes; statistical mechanics type models; percolation theory (60K35) Rarefied gas flows, Boltzmann equation in fluid mechanics (76P05) Kinetic theory of gases in time-dependent statistical mechanics (82C40) Dynamics of random walks, random surfaces, lattice animals, etc. in time-dependent statistical mechanics (82C41)

Abstract: It is well known that, in the Boltzmann-Grad limit, the distribution of the free path length in the Lorentz gas with disordered scatterer configuration has an exponential density. If, on the other hand, the scatterers are located at the vertices of a Euclidean lattice, the density has a power-law tail proportional to xi^{-3}. In the present paper we construct scatterer configurations whose free path lengths have a distribution with tail xi^{-N-2} for any positive integer N. We also discuss the properties of the random flight process that describes the Lorentz gas in the Boltzmann-Grad limit. The convergence of the distribution of the free path length follows from equidistribution of large spheres in products of certain homogeneous spaces, which in turn is a consequence of Ratner's measure classification theorem.

Review text

The Lorentz gas describes the dynamics of non-interacting point particles in an array of fixed spherical scatterers of a finite radius, centered at the elements of the point set. The Boltzmann-Grad limit refers to the limit of small scatterer density and has been studied extensively for disordered scatterer configurations and for the case of a Euclidean lattice (at whose vertices the scatterers are located). The present paper addresses a finite union of distinct Euclidean lattices as the scatteres configuration. A limit theorem for the transport equation is established. In particular it is shown that for the number \(N\) of involved lattices the free path lengths have a distribution with an inverse power tail \(\xi ^{-N-2}\), while that for a Euclidean lattice proper is known to scale like \(\xi ^{-3}\). Apart from a technical input of two previous publications of the authors [Ann. Math. (2) 172, No. 3, 1949--2033 (2010; Zbl 1211.82011)] and [Ann. Math. (2) 174, No. 1, 225--298 (2011; Zbl 1237.37014)], the Ratner measure classification theorem is employed [\textit{M. Ratner}, Duke Math. J. 63, No. 1, 235--280 (1991; Zbl 0733.22007)].

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Cites work

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Cited in

(18)

• On the distribution of free path lengths for the periodic Lorentz gas
• Deviations from Fick's law in Lorentz gases
• A spectral approach for solving the nonclassical transport equation
• Transport synthetic acceleration for the solution of the one-speed nonclassical spectral S_N equations in slab geometry
• Free path lengths in quasicrystals
• On the distribution of free path lengths for the periodic Lorentz gas. II
• The free path in a high velocity random flight process associated to a Lorentz gas in an external field
• Free path lengths in quasi crystals
• Efficient algorithm for simulating particles in true quasiperiodic environments
• Spherical averages in the space of marked lattices
• Refined central limit theorem and infinite density tail of the Lorentz gas from Lévy walk
• Improved tail estimates for the distribution of quadratic Weyl sums
• Kinetic Theory for the Low-Density Lorentz Gas
• The distribution of free path lengths in the periodic Lorentz gas and related lattice point problems
• The Boltzmann-Grad limit of the Lorentz gas in a union of lattices
• The periodic Lorentz gas in the Boltzmann-Grad limit: asymptotic estimates
• Convergence to the equilibrium for the kinetic transport equation in the two-dimensional periodic Lorentz gas
• The distribution of the free path lengths in the periodic two-dimensional Lorentz gas in the small-scatterer limit

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