Diffusion limit for a kinetic equation with a thermostatted interface

Abstract

We consider a linear phonon Boltzmann equation with a reflecting/transmitting/absorbing interface. This equation appears as the Boltzmann-Grad limit for the energy density function of a harmonic chain of oscillators with inter-particle stochastic scattering in the presence of a heat bath at temperature $T$ in contact with one oscillator at the origin. We prove that under the diffusive scaling the solutions of the phonon equation tend to the solution $\rho(t,y)$ of a heat equation with the boundary condition $\rho(t,0)\equiv T$.