On the speed of approach to equilibrium for a collisionless gas

Abstract

We investigate the speed of approach to Maxwellian equilibrium for a collisionless gas enclosed in a vessel whose wall are kept at a uniform, constant temperature, assuming diffuse reflection of gas molecules on the vessel wall. We establish lower bounds for potential decay rates assuming uniform $L^p$ bounds on the initial distribution function. We also obtain a decay estimate in the spherically symmetric case. We discuss with particular care the influence of low-speed particles on thermalization by the wall.