We consider the spatially homogeneous Boltzmann equation for {\em inelastic hard spheres}, in the framework of so-called {\em constant normal restitution coefficients} $α\in [0,1]$. In the physical regime of a small inelasticity (that is $α\in [α_*,1)$ for some constructive $α_*>0$) we prove uniqueness of the self-similar profile for given values of the restitution coefficient $α\in [α_*,1)$, the mass and the momentum; therefore we deduce the uniqueness of the self-similar solution (up to a time translation). Moreover, if the initial datum lies in $L^1_3$, and under some smallness condition on $(1-α_*)$ depending on the mass, energy and $L^1_3$ norm of this initial datum, we prove time asymptotic convergence (with polynomial rate) of the solution towards the self-similar solution (the so-called {\em homogeneous cooling state}). These uniqueness, stability and convergence results are expressed in the self-similar variables and then translate into corresponding results for the original Boltzmann equation. The proofs are based on the identification of a suitable elastic limit rescaling, and the construction of a smooth path of self-similar profiles connecting to a particular Maxwellian equilibrium in the elastic limit, together with tools from perturbative theory of linear operators. Some universal quantities, such as the "quasi-elastic self-similar temperature" and the rate of convergence towards self-similarity at first order in terms of $(1-α)$, are obtained from our study. These results provide a positive answer and a mathematical proof of the Ernst-Brito conjecture [16] in the case of inelastic hard spheres with small inelasticity.
We consider the spatially homogeneous Boltzmann equation for inelastic hard spheres (with constant restitution coefficient $α\in (0,1)$) under the thermalization induced by a host medium with a fixed Maxwellian distribution. We prove that the solution to the associated initial-value problem converges exponentially fast towards the unique equilibrium solution. The proof combines a careful spectral analysis of the linearised semigroup as well as entropy estimates. The trend towards equilibrium holds in the weakly inelastic regime in which $α$ is close to $1$, and the rate of convergence is expli…
We consider the spatially homogeneous Boltzmann equation for inelastic hard-spheres (with constant restitution coefficient $α\in (0,1)$) under the thermalization induced by a host medium with a fixed Maxwellian distribution. We prove uniqueness of the stationary solution (with given mass) in the weakly inelastic regime; i.e., for any inelasticity parameter $α\in (α_0,1)$, with some constructive $α_0 \in [0, 1)$. Our analysis is based on a perturbative argument which uses the knowledge of the stationary solution in the elastic limit and quantitative estimates of the convergence of stationary so…
We consider the linear dissipative Boltzmann equation describing inelastic interactions of particles with a fixed background. For the simplified model of Maxwell molecules first, we give a complete spectral analysis, and deduce from it the optimal rate of exponential convergence to equilibrium. Moreover we show the convergence to the heat equation in the diffusive limit and compute explicitely the diffusivity. Then for the physical model of hard spheres we use a suitable entropy functional for which we prove explicit inequality between the relative entropy and the production of entropy to get …
The Cauchy problem for the inelastic Boltzmann equation is studied for small data. Existence and uniqueness of mild and weak solutions is obtained for sufficiently small data that lies in the space of functions bounded by Maxwellians. The technique used to derive the result is the well known iteration process of Kaniel and Shinbrot.
We show the existence of smooth stationary solutions for the inelastic Boltzmann equation under the thermalization induced by a host-medium with a fixed distribution. This is achieved by controlling the Lp-norms, the moments and the regularity of the solutions for the Cauchy problem together with arguments related to a dynamical proof for the existence of stationary states.
We consider a space-homogeneous gas of {\it inelastic hard spheres}, with a {\it diffusive term} representing a random background forcing (in the framework of so-called {\em constant normal restitution coefficients} $α\in [0,1]$ for the inelasticity). In the physical regime of a small inelasticity (that is $α\in [α_*,1)$ for some constructive $α_* \in [0,1)$) we prove uniqueness of the stationary solution for given values of the restitution coefficient $α\in [α_*,1)$, the mass and the momentum, and we give various results on the linear stability and nonlinear stability of this stationary solut…
The goal of this paper is to extend the existence result of measure-valued solution to the Boltzmann equation in elastic interaction, given by Morimoto-Wang-Yang, to the inelastic Boltzmann equation with moderately soft potentials, also as an extensive work of our preceding result in the inelastic Maxwellian molecules case. We prove the existence and uniqueness of measure-valued solution under Grad's angular cutoff assumption, as well as the existence of non-cutoff solution, for both finite and infinite energy initial datum, by a delicate compactness argument. In addition, the moments propagat…
We prove uniqueness of self-similar profiles for the one-dimensional inelastic Boltzmann equation with moderately hard potentials, that is with collision kernel of the form | $\bullet$ | $γ$ for $γ$ > 0 small enough (explicitly quantified). Our result provides the first uniqueness statement for self-similar profiles of inelastic Boltzmann models allowing for strong inelasticity besides the explicitly solvable case of Maxwell interactions (corresponding to $γ$ = 0). Our approach relies on a perturbation argument from the corresponding Maxwell model through a careful study of the associated line…
We consider the spatially inhomogeneous Boltzmann equation for inelastic hard-spheres, with constant restitution coefficient $α\in(0,1)$, under the thermalization induced by a host medium with a fixed Maxwellian distribution and any fixed $e\in(0,1]$. When the restitution coefficient $α$ is close to 1 we prove existence and uniqueness of global solutions considering the close-to-equilibrium regime. We also study the long-time behaviour of these solutions and prove a convergence to equilibrium with an exponential rate.
We consider the spatially homogeneous Boltzmann equation for inelastic hard spheres, in the framework of so-called constant normal restitution coefficients. We prove the existence of self-similar solutions, and we give pointwise estimates on their tail. We also give general estimates on the tail and the regularity of generic solutions. In particular we prove Haff 's law on the rate of decay of temperature, as well as the algebraic decay of singularities. The proofs are based on the regularity study of a rescaled problem, with the help of the regularity properties of the gain part of the Boltzm…
We develop the Cauchy theory of the spatially homogeneous inelastic Boltzmann equation for hard spheres, for a general form of collision rate which includes in particular variable restitution coefficients depending on the kinetic energy and the relative velocity as well as the sticky particles model. We prove (local in time) non-concentration estimates in Orlicz spaces, from which we deduce weak stability and existence theorem. Strong stability together with uniqueness and instantaneous appearance of exponential moments are proved under additional smoothness assumption on the initial datum, fo…
We show that the Euclidean Wasserstein distance is contractive for inelastic homogeneous Boltzmann kinetic equations in the Maxwellian approximation and its associated Kac-like caricature. This property is as a generalization of the Tanaka theorem to inelastic interactions. Consequences are drawn on the asymptotic behavior of solutions in terms only of the Euclidean Wasserstein distance.
We prove the propagation of regularity, uniformly in time, for the scaled solutions of one-dimensional dissipative Maxwell models. This result together with the weak convergence towards the stationary state proven by Pareschi and Toscani in 2006 implies the strong convergence in Sobolev norms and in the L^1 norm towards it depending on the regularity of the initial data. In the case of the one-dimensional inelastic Boltzmann equation, the result does not depend of the degree of inelasticity. This generalizes a recent result of Carlen, Carrillo and Carvalho (arXiv:0805.1051v1), in which, for we…
The aim of this paper is to prove the existence of weak solution for a quasi-static evolution of thermo-visco-elastic model with Norton-Hoff law of plasticity. The dependence on temperature occurs both in the elastic constitutive equations (generalised Hooke's law) and in describing the evolution of visco-elastic strain. These thermal effects have not been previously considered. The approximations of the considered models did not allow in literature such a general models. The main idea of the article is the revocation to R. Temam articles on the plasticity from eighties of the previous century…
We study the high-energy asymptotics of the steady velocity distributions for model systems of granular media in various regimes. The main results obtained are integral estimates of solutions of the hard-sphere Boltzmann equations, which imply that the velocity distribution functions $f(v)$ behave in a certain sense as $C\exp(-r|v|^s)$ for $|v|$ large. The values of $s$, which we call {\em the orders of tails}, range from $s=1$ to $s=2$, depending on the model of external forcing. The method we use is based on the moment inequalities and careful estimating of constants in the integral form of …
In this work, we are interested in the spectrum of the diffusively excited granular gases equation, in a space inhomogeneous setting, linearized around an homogeneous equilibrium. We perform a study which generalizes to a non-hilbertian setting and to the inelastic case the seminal work of Ellis and Pinsky about the spectrum of the linearized Boltzmann operator. We first give a precise localization of the spectrum, which consists in an essential part lying on the left of the imaginary axis and a discrete spectrum, which is also of nonnegative real part for small values of the inelasticity para…
We consider the $n$-dimensional space homogeneous Boltzmann equation for elastic collisions for variable hard potentials with Grad (angular) cutoff. We prove sharp moment inequalities, the propagation of $L^1$-Maxwellian weighted estimates, and consequently, the propagation $L^\infty$-Maxwellian weighted estimates to all derivatives of the initial value problem associated to the afore mentioned problem. More specifically, we extend to all derivatives of the initial value problem associated to this class of Boltzmann equations corresponding sharp moment (Povzner) inequalities and time propagati…
In this paper, we provide the first rigorous derivation of hydrodynamic equations from the Boltzmann equation for inelastic hard spheres with small inelasticity. The hydrodynamic system that we obtain is an incompressible Navier-Stokes-Fourier system with self-consistent forcing terms and is thus the first hydrodynamic system that properly describes rapid granular flows. To do that, we write our Boltzmann equation in nondimensional form introducing the dimensionless Knudsen number which is intended to tend to 0. The difficulties are then manyfold, the first one coming from the fact that the or…
We study the problem of 2-soliton collision for the generalized Korteweg-de Vries equations, completing some recent works of Y. Martel and F. Merle. We classify the nonlinearities for which collisions are elastic or inelastic. Our main result states that in the case of small solitons, with one soliton smaller than the other one, the unique nonlinearities allowing a perfectly elastic collision are precisely the integrable cases, namely the quadratic (KdV), cubic (mKdV) and Gardner nonlinearities.
