Quantitative light-particle limit for the Vlasov-Fokker-Planck-Navier-Stokes system

Abstract

We investigate the hydrodynamic limit of the Vlasov-Fokker-Planck-Navier-Stokes system in the light particle regime, where the particle relaxation takes place on a singularly fast time scale. Using a relative entropy method adapted to this scaling, we develop the first quantitative convergence theory for the light particle limit. Our analysis yields explicit rates for the convergence of both the kinetic distribution and the fluid velocity, extending the qualitative compactness-based result of Goudon, Jabin, and Vasseur [Indiana Univ. Math. J., 53, (2004), 1495-1515]. Moreover, we derive refined convergence estimates for the macroscopic density and fluid velocity in negative Sobolev spaces, consistent with the formally optimal rates predicted by the Hilbert expansion. The results apply to both the torus and the whole space, providing a unified quantitative description of the light particle hydrodynamic limit.