Series:

Applied Mathematical Sciences

3 primary works • 4 total works

Book 67

Cover of The Boltzmann Equation and Its Applications
Statistical mechanics may be naturally divided into two branches, one dealing with equilibrium systems, the other with nonequilibrium systems. The equilibrium properties of macroscopic systems are defined in principle by suitable averages in well-defined Gibbs's ensembles. This provides a frame­ work for both qualitative understanding and quantitative approximations to equilibrium behaviour. Nonequilibrium phenomena are much less understood at the present time. A notable exception is offered by the case of dilute gases. Here a basic equation was established by Ludwig Boltzmann in 1872. The Boltzmann equation still forms the basis for the kinetic theory of gases and has proved fruitful not only for a study of the classical gases Boltzmann had in mind but also, properly generalized, for studying electron transport in solids and plasmas, neutron transport in nuclear reactors, phonon transport in superfluids, and radiative transfer in planetary and stellar atmospheres. Research in both the new fields and the old one has undergone a considerable advance in the last thirty years.

Book 96

Cover of Mathematical Theory of Incompressible Nonviscous Fluids
Fluid dynamics is an ancient science incredibly alive today. Modern technol ogy and new needs require a deeper knowledge of the behavior of real fluids, and new discoveries or steps forward pose, quite often, challenging and diffi cult new mathematical {::oblems. In this framework, a special role is played by incompressible nonviscous (sometimes called perfect) flows. This is a mathematical model consisting essentially of an evolution equation (the Euler equation) for the velocity field of fluids. Such an equation, which is nothing other than the Newton laws plus some additional structural hypo theses, was discovered by Euler in 1755, and although it is more than two centuries old, many fundamental questions concerning its solutions are still open. In particular, it is not known whether the solutions, for reasonably general initial conditions, develop singularities in a finite time, and very little is known about the long-term behavior of smooth solutions. These and other basic problems are still open, and this is one of the reasons why the mathe matical theory of perfect flows is far from being completed. Incompressible flows have been attached, by many distinguished mathe maticians, with a large variety of mathematical techniques so that, today, this field constitutes a very rich and stimulating part of applied mathematics.

Book 106

Cover of The Mathematical Theory of Dilute Gases
The idea for this book was conceived by the authors some time in 1988, and a first outline of the manuscript was drawn up during a summer school on mathematical physics held in Ravello in September 1988, where all three of us were present as lecturers or organizers. The project was in some sense inherited from our friend Marvin Shinbrot, who had planned a book about recent progress for the Boltzmann equation, but, due to his untimely death in 1987, never got to do it. When we drew up the first outline, we could not anticipate how long the actual writing would stretch out. Our ambitions were high: We wanted to cover the modern mathematical theory of the Boltzmann equation, with rigorous proofs, in a complete and readable volume. As the years progressed, we withdrew to some degree from this first ambition- there was just too much material, too scattered, sometimes incomplete, sometimes not rigor ous enough. However, in the writing process itself, the need for the book became ever more apparent. The last twenty years have seen an amazing number of significant results in the field, many of them published in incom plete form, sometimes in obscure places, and sometimes without technical details. We made it our objective to collect these results, classify them, and present them as best we could. The choice of topics remains, of course, subjective.

v. 96

Cover of Mathematical Theory of Incompressible Nonvisions Fluids
This book deals with fluid dynamics of incompressible non-viscous fluids. The main goal is to present an argument of large interest for physics, and applications in a rigorous logical and mathematical set-up, therefore avoiding cumbersome technicalities. Classical as well as modern mathematical developments are illustrated in this book, which should fill a gap in the present literature. The book does not require a deep mathematical knowledge. The required background is a good understanding of classical arguments of mathematical analysis, including the basic elements of ordinary and partial differential equations, measure theory and analytic functions, and a few notions of potential theory and functional analysis. The contents of the book begin with the Euler equation, construction of solutions, stability of stationary solutions of the Euler equation. It continues with the vortex model, approximation methods, evolution of discontinuities, and concludes with turbulence.