The aim of this book is to present the theory and applications of the relativistic Boltzmann equation in a self-contained manner, even for those readers who have no familiarity with special and general relativity. Though an attempt is made to present the basic concepts in a complete fashion, the style of presentation is chosen to be appealing to readers who want to understand how kinetic theory is used for explicit calculations. The book will be helpful not only as a textbook for an advanced course on relativistic kinetic theory but also as a reference for physicists, astrophysicists and applied mathematicians who are interested in the theory and applications of the relativistic Boltzmann equation.

Appendix after each chapter

In,1872, Boltzmann published a paper which for the first time provided a precise mathematical basis for a discussion of the approach to equilibrium. The paper dealt with the approach to equilibrium of a dilute gas and was based on an equation - the Boltzmann equation, as we call it now - for the velocity distribution function of such ~ gas. The Boltzmann equation still forms the basis of the kinetic theory of gases and has proved fruitful not only for the classical gases Boltzmann had in mind, but als- if properly generalized - for the electron gas in a solid and the excitation gas in a superfluid. Therefore it was felt by many of us that the Boltzmann equation was of sufficient interest, even today, to warrant a meeting, in which a review of its present status would be undertaken. Since Boltzmann had spent a good part of his life in Vienna, this city seemed to be a natural setting for such a meeting. The first day was devoted to historical lectures, since it was generally felt that apart from their general interest, they would furnish a good introduction to the subsequent scientific sessions. We are very much indebted to Dr. D.

This book presents fundamentals, equations, and methods of solutions of relativistic kinetic theory, with applications in astrophysics and cosmology.

Relativistic kinetic theory has widespread application in astrophysics and cosmology. The interest has grown in recent years as experimentalists are now able to make reliable measurements on physical systems where relativistic effects are no longer negligible. This ambitious monograph is divided into three parts. It presents the basic ideas and concepts of this theory, equations and methods, including derivation of kinetic equations from the relativistic BBGKY hierarchy and discussion of the relation between kinetic and hydrodynamic levels of description. The second part introduces elements of computational physics with special emphasis on numerical integration of Boltzmann equations and related approaches, as well as multi-component hydrodynamics. The third part presents an overview of applications ranging from covariant theory of plasma response, thermalization of relativistic plasma, comptonization in static and moving media to kinetics of self-gravitating systems, cosmological structure formation and neutrino emission during the gravitational collapse.

This book presents a broad and well-structured overview of various non-Fourier heat conduction models. The classical Fourier heat conduction model is valid for most macroscopic problems. However, it fails when the wave nature of the heat propagation becomes dominant and memory or non-local spatial effects become significant; e.g., during ultrafast heating, heat transfer at the nanoscale, in granular and porous materials, at extremely high values of the heat flux, or in heat transfer in biological tissues. The book looks at numerous non-Fourier heat conduction models that incorporate time non-locality for materials with memory, such as hereditary materials, including fractional hereditary materials, and/or spatial non-locality, i.e. materials with a non-homogeneous inner structure. Beginning with an introduction to classical transport theory, including phase-lag, phonon, and thermomass models, the book then looks at various aspects of relativistic and quantum transport, including approaches based on the Landauer formalism as well as the Green-Kubo theory of linear response. Featuring an appendix that provides an introduction to methods in fractional calculus, this book is a valuable resource for any researcher interested in theoretical and numerical aspects of complex, non-trivial heat conduction problems.

An introductory textbook to Lattice Boltzmann methods in computational fluid dynamics, aimed at a broad audience of scientists working with flowing matter. LB has known a burgeoning growth of applications, especially in connection with the simulation of complex flows, and also on the methodological side.

This book covers classical kinetic theory of gases, presenting basic principles in a self-contained framework and from a more rigorous approach based on the Boltzmann equation. Uses methods in kinetic theory for determining the transport coefficients of gases.

The well known transport laws of Navier-Stokes and Fourier fail for the simulation of processes on lengthscales in the order of the mean free path of a particle that is when the Knudsen number is not small enough. Thus, the proper simulation of flows in rarefied gases requires a more detailed description. This book discusses classical and modern methods to derive macroscopic transport equations for rarefied gases from the Boltzmann equation, for small and moderate Knudsen numbers, i.e. at and above the Navier-Stokes-Fourier level. The main methods discussed are the classical Chapman-Enskog and Grad approaches, as well as the new order of magnitude method, which avoids the short-comings of the classical methods, but retains their benefits. The relations between the various methods are carefully examined, and the resulting equations are compared and tested for a variety of standard problems. The book develops the topic starting from the basic description of an ideal gas, over the derivation of the Boltzmann equation, towards the various methods for deriving macroscopic transport equations, and the test problems which include stability of the equations, shock waves, and Couette flow.