The Boltzmann Equation and Its Applications

I. Basic Principles of The Kinetic Theory of Gases.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Probability.- 3. Phase space and Liouville’s theorem.- 4. Hard spheres and rigid walls. Mean free path.- 5. Scattering of a volume element in phase space.- 6. Time averages, ergodic hypothesis and equilibrium states.- References.- II. The Boltzmann Equation.- 1. The problem of nonequilibrium states.- 2. Equations for the many particle distribution functions for a gas of rigid spheres.- 3. The Boltzmann equation for rigid spheres.- 4. Generalizations.- 5. Details of the collision term.- 6. Elementary properties of the collision operator. Collision invariants.- 7. Solution of the equation Q(f,f) = 0.- 8. Connection between the microscopic description and the macroscopic description of gas dynamics.- 9. Non-cutoff potentials and grazing collisions. Fokker-Planck equation.- 10. Model equations.- References.- III. Gas-Surface Interaction and the H-Theorem.- 1. Boundary conditions and the gas-surface interaction.- 2. Computation of scattering kernels.- 3. Reciprocity.- 4. A remarkable inequality.- 5. Maxwell’s boundary conditions. Accommodation coefficients.- 6. Mathematical models for gas-surface interaction.- 7. Physical models for gas-surface interaction.- 8. Scattering of molecular beams.- 9. The H-theorem. Irreversibility.- 10. Equilibrium states and Maxwellian distributions.- References.- IV, Linear Transport.- 1. The linearized collision operator.- 2. The linearized Boltzmann equation.- 3. The linear Boltzmann equation. Neutron transport and radiative transfer.- 4. Uniqueness of the solution for initial and boundary value problems.- 5. Further investigation of the linearized collision term.- 6. The decay to equilibrium and the spectrum of the collision operator.- 7. Steady one-dimensionalproblems. Transport coefficients.- 8. The general case.- 9. Linearized kinetic models.- 10. The variational principle.- 11. Green’s function.- 12. The integral equation approach.- References.- V. Small and Large Mean Free Paths.- 1. The Knudsen number.- 2. The Hilbert expansion.- 3. The Chapman-Enskog expansion.- 4. Criticism of the Chapman-Enskog method.- 5. Initial, boundary and shock layers.- 6. Further remarks on the Chapman-Enskog method and the computation of transport coefficients.- 7. Free molecule flow past a convex body.- 8. Free molecule flow in presence of nonconvex boundaries.- 9. Nearly free-molecule flows.- References.- VI. Analytical Solutions of Models.- 1. The method of elementary solutions.- 2. Splitting of a one-dimensional model equation.- 3. Elementary solutions of the simplest transport equation.- 4. Application of the general method to the Kramers and Milne problems.- 5. Application to the flow between parallel plates and the critical problem of a slab.- 6. Unsteady solutions of kinetic models with constant collision frequency.- 7. Analytical solutions of specific problems.- 8. More general models.- 9. Some special cases.- 10. Unsteady solutions of kinetic models with velocity dependent collision frequency.- 11. Analytic continuation.- 12. Sound propagation in monatomic gases.- 13. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional problems. Flow past solid bodies.- 14. Fluctuations and light scattering.- References.- VII. The Transition Regime.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Moment and discrete ordinate methods.- 3. The variational method.- 4. Monte Carlo methods.- 5. Problems of flow and heat transfer in regions bounded by planes or cylinders.- 6. Shock-wave structure.- 7. External flows.- 8. Expansion of a gas into a vacuum.- References.- VIII. Theorems on theSolutions of the Boltzmann Equation.- 1. Introduction.- 2. The space homogeneous case.- 3. Mollified and other modified versions of the Boltzmann equation.- 4. Nonstandard analysis approach to the Boltzmann equation.- 5. Local existence and validity of the Boltzmann equation.- 6. Global existence near equilibrium.- 7. Perturbations of vacuum.- 8. Homoenergetic solutions.- 9. Boundary value problems. The linearized and weakly nonlinear cases.- 10. Nonlinear boundary value problems.- 11. Concluding remarks.- References.- References.- Author Index.