Series: Mathematics Colloquium

Date: Thursday, August 23, 2001

Time: 4:00 - 4:50 PM

Place: 102 McAllister Building

Speaker: C. David Levermore, University of Maryland

Title: Fluid Dynamical Limits for the Boltzmann Equation

Abstract: 

The endeavor to understand how fluid dynamical equations can be
derived from kinetic theory goes back to the founding works of Maxwell
and Boltzmann.  Most of these derivations have been well understood at
several formal levels for some time, and yet their full mathematical
justifications are still missing.  This talk will introduce this
general problem and describe recent works in which acoustic,
incompressible Stokes, and incompressible Navier-Stokes limits are
globally established for the classical Boltzmann equation.  Recent
partial results for an incompressible Euler limit and open problems
for all these limits will also be discussed.