Linear Boltzmann equation Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-07
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.
Separate the transported initial datum from the gain term. Define
and the Boltzmann Volterra operator
The Duhamel principle makes the linear Boltzmann equation equivalent, whenever the integrals and solution are legitimate, to
The gain samples velocities at the backward spatial position of the outgoing velocity ; replacing that spatial shift by one depending on would give a different equation.
Denote the damped free-transport evolution from time to time by
By the argument in (b), . The integral operator is the Boltzmann Volterra operator
The Minkowski integral inequality and (a) give the useful stronger pointwise bound
Therefore the requested estimate is
For strongly measurable bounded -valued , these are Bochner integrals; their finite norm bounds establish existence of the integrals.
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 gives
Thus the Volterra series for the linear Boltzmann equation converges in operator norm for every finite , even when . Set
For 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).