Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2015 / iii / Paper 8 / 2 / f

Let $f_1,f_2$ have the same initial data and satisfy the characteristic integral equation. Their difference $g=f_1-f_2$ satisfies $g=\tau g$, hence $g={\tau }^{n}g$ for every $n$.

Fix any $T_0<T$ and let $M={\sup }_{0\le s\le T_0}\Vert g(s){\Vert }_2<\infty$. The factorial bound for a Volterra iterate givesThe scalar factor tends to zero, so $g(t)=0$ throughout this interval. Since $T_0<T$ is arbitrary, the weak solution of the linear Boltzmann equation is unique on $[0,T)$. The same argument gives uniqueness at $T$ whenever solutions are defined there by the integral formula.