The Boltzmann equation for a multi-species inelastic mixture

Abstract

A granular gas is a collection of macroscopic particles that interact through energy-dissipating collisions, also known as inelastic collisions. This inelasticity is characterized by a collision mechanics in which mass and momentum are conserved and kinetic energy is dissipated. Such a system can be described by a kinetic equation of the Boltzmann type. Nevertheless, due to the macroscopic aspect of the particles, any realistic description of a granular gas should be written as a mixture model composed of M different species, each with its own mass. We propose in this work such a granular multi-species model and analyse it, providing Povzner-type inequalities, and a Cauchy theory in general Orlicz spaces. We also analyse its large time behavior, showing that it exhibits a mixture analogue of the seminal Haff's Law.