Linear Boltzmann equation 2026-10-06
A linear kinetic transport equation with velocity-integral gain and nonnegative loss coefficient . Its characteristic integral formulation combines the damped free-transport evolution with the Boltzmann Volterra operator. A uniform square-integrable velocity kernel yields bounded gain on and a globally convergent Volterra series for the linear Boltzmann equation on every finite time interval.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 8 2 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Denote the damped free-transport evolution from time to time byBy the argument in (b), . The integral operator is the Boltzmann Volterra operatorThe Minkowski integral inequality and (a) give the useful stronger pointwise boundTherefore the requested estimate isFor strongly measurable bounded -valued , these are Bochner integrals; their finite norm bounds establish existence of the integrals.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 8 2 e Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Work in the Banach space of bounded strongly measurable maps , with norm . Keeping actual representatives at every time matches the pointwise-in-time mild formulation. The Boltzmann Volterra operator is bounded on this space, and the factorial bound for a Volterra iterate givesThus the Volterra series for the linear Boltzmann equation converges in operator norm for every finite , even when . SetFor its partial sums, . The remainder tends to zero by the factorial estimate. Hence , precisely the required characteristic integral equation.
The norm bound in (b) gives an explicit choice of the existence constant:Also , since every term with vanishes at zero and the damping interval has length zero. This proves existence in the paper's weak, characteristic-integral sense. With merely measurable nonnegative , that sense does not itself require a continuous initial trace; that trace follows under the additional local characteristic-integrability condition described in (b).