The Cauchy Problem in Kinetic Theory

Download or read book The Cauchy Problem in Kinetic Theory written by Robert T. Glassey and published by SIAM. This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume studies the basic equations of kinetic theory in all of space. It contains up-to-date, state-of-the-art treatments of initial-value problems for the major kinetic equations, including the Boltzmann equation (from rarefied gas dynamics) and the Vlasov-Poisson/Vlasov-Maxwell systems (from plasma physics). This is the only existing book to treat Boltzmann-type problems and Vlasov-type problems together. Although these equations describe very different phenomena, they share the same streaming term. The author proves that solutions starting from a given configuration at an initial time exist for all future times by imposing appropriate hypotheses on the initial values in several important cases. He emphasizes those questions that a mathematician would ask first: Is there a solution to this problem? Is it unique? Can it be numerically approximated? The topics treated include the study of the Boltzmann collision operator, the study of the initial-value problem for the Boltzmann equation with "small" and "near equilibrium" data, global smooth solvability of the initial-value problem for the Vlasov-Poisson system with smooth initial data of unrestricted size, conditions under which the initial-value problem for the Vlasov-Maxwell system has global-in-time solutions (in both the smooth and weak senses), and more.