arXiv subjects

Clément Mouhot

Publications and source records attributed to Clément Mouhot.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

Convolutive decomposition and fast summation methods for discrete-velocity approximations of the Boltzmann equation

Discrete-velocity approximations represent a popular way for computing the Boltzmann collision operator. The direct numerical evaluation of such methods involve a prohibitive cost, typically $O(N^{2d+1})$ where $d$ is the dimension of the velocity space. In this paper, following the ideas introduced in [27,28], we derive fast summation techniques for the evaluation of discrete-velocity schemes which permits to reduce the computational cost from $O(N^{2d+1})$ to $O(\bar{N}^d N^d\log_2 N)$, $\bar{N} << N$, with almost no loss of accuracy.

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arXiv2012

Kac's Program in Kinetic Theory

This paper is devoted to the study of propagation of chaos and mean-field limits for systems of indistinguable particles, undergoing collision processes. The prime examples we will consider are the many-particle jump processes of Kac and McKean \cite{Kac1956,McKean1967} giving rise to the Boltzmann equation. We solve the conjecture raised by Kac \cite{Kac1956}, motivating his program, on the rigorous connection between the long-time behavior of a collisional many-particle system and the one of its mean-field limit, for bounded as well as unbounded collision rates. Motivated by the inspirative paper by Grünbaum \cite{Grunbaum}, we develop an abstract method that reduces the question of propagation of chaos to that of proving a purely functional estimate on generator operators ({\em consistency estimates}), along with differentiability estimates on the flow of the nonlinear limit equation ({\em stability estimates}). This allows us to exploit dissipativity at the level of the mean-field limit equation rather than the level of the particle system (as proposed by Kac). Using this method we show: (1) Quantitative estimates, that are uniform in time, on the chaoticity of a family of states. (2) Propagation of {\it entropic chaoticity}, as defined in \cite{CCLLV}. (3) Estimates on the time of relaxation to equilibrium, that are \emph{independent of the number of particles in the system}. Our results cover the two main Boltzmann physical collision processes with unbounded collision rates: hard spheres and \emph{true} Maxwell molecules interactions. The proof of the \emph{stability estimates} for these models requires significant analytic efforts and new estimates.

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arXiv2012

A new approach to the creation and propagation of exponential moments in the Boltzmann equation

We study the creation and propagation of exponential moments of solutions to the spatially homogeneous $d$-dimensional Boltzmann equation. In particular, when the collision kernel is of the form $|v-v_*|^βb(\cos(θ))$ for $β\in (0,2]$ with $\cos(θ)= |v-v_*|^{-1}(v-v_*)\cdot σ$ and $σ\in \mathbb{S}^{d-1}$, and assuming the classical cut-off condition $ b(\cos(θ))$ integrable in $\mathbb{S}^{d-1}$, we prove that there exists $a > 0$ such that moments with weight $\exp(a \min{t,1} |v|^β)$ are finite for $t>0$, where $a$ only depends on the collision kernel and the initial mass and energy. We propose a novel method of proof based on a single differential inequality for the exponential moment with time-dependent coefficients.

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arXiv2012

Exponential rate of convergence to equilibrium for a model describing fiber lay-down processes

This paper is devoted to the adaptation of the method developed in [4,3] to a Fokker-Planck equation for fiber lay-down which has been studied in [1,5]. Exponential convergence towards a unique stationary state is proved in a norm which is equivalent to a weighted $L^2$ norm. The method is based on a micro / macro decomposition which is well adapted to the diffusion limit regime.

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arXiv2011

About Kac's Program in Kinetic Theory

In this Note we present the main results from the recent work arxiv:1107.3251, which answers several conjectures raised fifty years ago by Kac. There Kac introduced a many-particle stochastic process (now denoted as Kac's master equation) which, for chaotic data, converges to the spatially homogeneous Boltzmann equation. We answer the three following questions raised in \cite{kac}: (1) prove the propagation of chaos for realistic microscopic interactions (i.e. in our results: hard spheres and true Maxwell molecules); (2) relate the time scales of relaxation of the stochastic process and of the limit equation by obtaining rates independent of the number of particles; (3) prove the convergence of the many-particle entropy towards the Boltzmann entropy of the solution to the limit equation (microscopic justification of the $H$-theorem of Boltzmann in this context). These results crucially rely on a new theory of quantitative uniform in time estimates of propagation of chaos.

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arXiv2011

On Measure Solutions of the Boltzmann Equation, part I: Moment Production and Stability Estimates

The spatially homogeneous Boltzmann equation with hard potentials is considered for measure valued initial data having finite mass and energy. We prove the existence of \emph{weak measure solutions}, with and without angular cutoff on the collision kernel; the proof in particular makes use of an approximation argument based on the Mehler transform. Moment production estimates in the usual form and in the exponential form are obtained for these solutions. Finally for the Grad angular cutoff, we also establish uniqueness and strong stability estimate on these solutions.

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arXiv2010

Celebrating Cercignani's conjecture for the Boltzmann equation

Cercignani's conjecture assumes a linear inequality between the entropy and entropy production functionals for Boltzmann's nonlinear integral operator in rarefied gas dynamics. Related to the field of logarithmic Sobolev inequalities and spectral gap inequalities, this issue has been at the core of the renewal of the mathematical theory of convergence to thermodynamical equilibrium for rarefied gases over the past decade. In this review paper, we survey the various positive and negative results which were obtained since the conjecture was proposed in the 1980s.

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arXiv2010

Enlarging the functional space of decay estimates on semigroups

This note briefly presents a new method for enlarging the functional space of a "spectral-gap-like" estimate of exponential decay on a semigroup. A particular case of the method was first devised in hal-00076709 for the spatially homogeneous Boltzmann equation, and a variant was used in Ref. hal-00124876 in the same context for inelastic collisions. We present a generalized abstract version of it, a short proof of the algebraic core of the method, and a new application to the Fokker-Planck equation. More details and other applications shall be found in the work in preparation Ref. [3] (another application to quantum kinetic theory can be found in the work in preparation Ref. [4]).

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arXiv2010

Hypocoercivity for linear kinetic equations conserving mass

We develop a new method for proving hypocoercivity for a large class of linear kinetic equations with only one conservation law. Local mass conservation is assumed at the level of the collision kernel, while transport involves a confining potential, so that the solution relaxes towards a unique equilibrium state. Our goal is to evaluate in an appropriately weighted $L^2$ norm the exponential rate of convergence to the equilibrium. The method covers various models, ranging from diffusive kinetic equations like Vlasov-Fokker-Planck equations, to scattering models like the linear Boltzmann equation or models with time relaxation collision kernels corresponding to polytropic Gibbs equilibria, including the case of the linear Boltzmann model. In this last case and in the case of Vlasov-Fokker-Planck equations, any linear or superlinear growth of the potential is allowed.

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arXiv2010

Quantitative uniform in time chaos propagation for Boltzmann collision processes

This paper is devoted to the study of mean-field limit for systems of indistinguables particles undergoing collision processes. As formulated by Kac \cite{Kac1956} this limit is based on the {\em chaos propagation}, and we (1) prove and quantify this property for Boltzmann collision processes with unbounded collision rates (hard spheres or long-range interactions), (2) prove and quantify this property \emph{uniformly in time}. This yields the first chaos propagation result for the spatially homogeneous Boltzmann equation for true (without cut-off) Maxwell molecules whose "Master equation" shares similarities with the one of a Lévy process and the first {\em quantitative} chaos propagation result for the spatially homogeneous Boltzmann equation for hard spheres (improvement of the %non-contructive convergence result of Sznitman \cite{S1}). Moreover our chaos propagation results are the first uniform in time ones for Boltzmann collision processes (to our knowledge), which partly answers the important question raised by Kac of relating the long-time behavior of a particle system with the one of its mean-field limit, and we provide as a surprising application a new proof of the well-known result of gaussian limit of rescaled marginals of uniform measure on the $N$-dimensional sphere as $N$ goes to infinity (more applications will be provided in a forthcoming work). Our results are based on a new method which reduces the question of chaos propagation to the one of proving a purely functional estimate on some generator operators ({\em consistency estimate}) together with fine stability estimates on the flow of the limiting non-linear equation ({\em stability estimates}).

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arXiv2009

Amortissement Landau

Dans cette note nous présentons les principaux résultats du récent travail hal-00376547/arXiv:0904.2760, où le phénomène d'amortissement Landau est pour la première fois établi dans un contexte non linéaire. ----- In this note we present the main results from the recent work hal-00376547 / arXiv:0904.2760, which for the first time establish Landau damping in a nonlinear context.

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arXiv2009

On Landau damping

Going beyond the linearized study has been a longstanding problem in the theory of Landau damping. In this paper we establish exponential Landau damping in analytic regularity. The damping phenomenon is reinterpreted in terms of transfer of regularity between kinetic and spatial variables, rather than exchanges of energy; phase mixing is the driving mechanism. The analysis involves new families of analytic norms, measuring regularity by comparison with solutions of the free transport equation; new functional inequalities; a control of nonlinear echoes; sharp scattering estimates; and a Newton approximation scheme. Our results hold for any potential no more singular than Coulomb or Newton interaction; the limit cases are included with specific technical effort. As a side result, the stability of homogeneous equilibria of the nonlinear Vlasov equation is established under sharp assumptions. We point out the strong analogy with the KAM theory, and discuss physical implications.

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arXiv2009

Landau damping

In this note we present the main results from the recent work hal-00376547/arXiv:0904.2760, which for the first time establish Landau damping in a nonlinear context.

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arXiv2009

Fractional Poincaré inequalities for general measures

We prove a fractional version of Poincaré inequalities in the context of $\R^n$ endowed with a fairly general measure. Namely we prove a control of an $L^2$ norm by a non local quantity, which plays the role of the gradient in the standard Poincaré inequality. The assumption on the measure is the fact that it satisfies the classical Poincaré inequality, so that our result is an improvement of the latter inequality. Moreover we also quantify the tightness at infinity provided by the control on the fractional derivative in terms of a weight growing at infinity. The proof goes through the introduction of the generator of the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck semigroup and some careful estimates of its powers. To our knowledge this is the first proof of fractional Poincaré inequality for measures more general than Lévy measures.

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arXiv2009

Hypocoercivity for kinetic equations with linear relaxation terms

This note is devoted to a simple method for proving hypocoercivity of the solutions of a kinetic equation involving a linear time relaxation operator, i.e. the construction of an adapted Lyapunov functional satisfying a Gronwall-type inequality. The method clearly distinguishes the coercivity at microscopic level, which directly arises from the properties of the relaxation operator, and a spectral gap inequality at the macroscopic level for the spatial density, which is connected to the diffusion limit. It improves on previously known results. Our approach is illustrated by the linear BGK model and a relaxation operator which corresponds at macroscopic level to the linearized fast diffusion.

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arXiv2008

Analysis of spectral methods for the homogeneous Boltzmann equation

The development of accurate and fast algorithms for the Boltzmann collision integral and their analysis represent a challenging problem in scientific computing and numerical analysis. Recently, several works were devoted to the derivation of spectrally accurate schemes for the Boltzmann equation, but very few of them were concerned with the stability analysis of the method. In particular there was no result of stability except when the method is modified in order to enforce the posivity preservation, which destroys the spectral accuracy. In this paper we propose a new method to study the stability of homogeneous Boltzmann equations perturbed by smoothed balanced operators which do not preserve positivity of the distribution. This method takes advantage of the "spreading" property of the collision, together with estimates on regularity and entropy production. As an application we prove stability and convergence of spectral methods for the Boltzmann equation, when the discretization parameter is large enough (with explicit bound).

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arXiv2008

Rate of convergence to self-similarity for Smoluchowski's coagulation equation with constant coefficients

We show that solutions to Smoluchowski's equation with a constant coagulation kernel and an initial datum with some regularity and exponentially decaying tail converge exponentially fast to a self-similar profile. This convergence holds in a weighted Sobolev norm which implies the L\^2 convergence of derivatives up to a certain order k depending on the regularity of the initial condition. We prove these results through the study of the linearized coagulation equation in self-similar variables, for which we show a spectral gap in a scale of weighted Sobolev spaces. We also take advantage of the fact that the Laplace or Fourier transforms of this equation can be explicitly solved in this case.

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arXiv2008

Fractional diffusion limit for collisional kinetic equations

This paper is devoted to diffusion limits of linear Boltzmann equations. When the equilibrium distribution function is Maxwellian distribution, it is well known that for an appropriate time scale, the small mean free path limit gives rise to a diffusion equation. In this paper, we consider situations in which the equilibrium distribution function is a heavy-tailed distribution with infinite variance. We then show that for an appropriate time scale, the small mean free path limit gives rise to a fractional diffusion equation.

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