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8.5: Diffusion and the Lorentz model

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Failure of the relaxation time approximation

As we remarked above, the relaxation time approximation fails to conserve any of the collisional invariants. It is therefore unsuitable for describing hydrodynamic phenomena such as diffusion. To see this, let f(r,v,t) be the distribution function, here written in terms of position, velocity, and time rather than position, momentum, and time as befor7. In the absence of external forces, the Boltzmann equation in the relaxation time approximation is ft+vfr=ff0τ . The density of particles in velocity space is given by ˜n(v,t)=d3rf(r,v,t) . In equilibrium, this is the Maxwell distribution times the total number of particles: \boldsymbol{{\tilde n}\ns_0(\Bv)=N P\ns_\ssr{M}(\Bv)}. The number of particles as a function of time, N(t)=d3v˜n(v,t), should be a constant.

Integrating the Boltzmann equation one has ˜nt=˜n˜n0τ . Thus, with δ˜n(v,t)=˜n(v,t)˜n0(v), we have δ˜n(v,t)=δ˜n(v,0)et/τ . Thus, ˜n(v,t) decays exponentially to zero with time constant τ, from which it follows that the total particle number exponentially relaxes to N0. This is physically incorrect; local density perturbations can’t just vanish. Rather, they diffuse.

Modified Boltzmann equation and its solution

To remedy this unphysical aspect, consider the modified Boltzmann equation, ft+vfr=1τ[f+dˆv4πf]1τ(P1)f , where P is a projector onto a space of isotropic functions of v: PF=dˆv4πF(v) for any function F(v). Note that PF is a function of the speed v=|v|. For this modified equation, known as the Lorentz model, one finds t˜n=0.

The model in Equation [Lormod] is known as the Lorentz model8. To solve it, we consider the Laplace transform, ˆf(k,v,s)=0dtestd3reikrf(r,v,t) . Taking the Laplace transform of Equation [Lormod], we find (s+ivk+τ1)ˆf(k,v,s)=τ1Pˆf(k,v,s)+f(k,v,t=0) . We now solve for Pˆf(k,v,s): ˆf(k,v,s)=τ1s+ivk+τ1Pˆf(k,v,s)+f(k,v,t=0)s+ivk+τ1 , which entails Pˆf(k,v,s)=[dˆv4πτ1s+ivk+τ1]Pˆf(k,v,s)+dˆv4πf(k,v,t=0)s+ivk+τ1 . Now we have dˆv4πτ1s+ivk+τ1=11dxτ1s+ivkx+τ1=1vktan1(vkτ1+τs) . Thus, Pf(k,v,s)=[11vkτtan1(vkτ1+τs)]1dˆv4πf(k,v,t=0)s+ivk+τ1 . We now have the solution to Lorentz’s modified Boltzmann equation: ˆf(k,v,s)=τ1s+ivk+τ1[11vkτtan1(vkτ1+τs)]1dˆv4πf(k,v,t=0)s+ivk+τ1+f(k,v,t=0)s+ivk+τ1 .

Let us assume an initial distribution which is perfectly localized in both r and v: f(r,v,t=0)=δ(vv0) . For these initial conditions, we find dˆv4πf(k,v,t=0)s+ivk+τ1=1s+iv0k+τ1δ(vv0)4πv20 . We further have that 11vkτtan1(vkτ1+τs)=sτ+13k2v2τ2+ , and therefore ˆf(k,v,s)=τ1s+ivk+τ1τ1s+iv0k+τ11s+13v20k2τ+δ(vv0)4πv20+δ(vv0)s+iv0k+τ1 . We are interested in the long time limit tτ for f(r,v,t). This is dominated by st1, and we assume that τ1 is dominant over s and ivk. We then have ˆf(k,v,s)1s+13v20k2τδ(vv0)4πv20 . Performing the inverse Laplace and Fourier transforms, we obtain f(r,v,t)=(4πDt)3/2er2/4Dtδ(vv0)4πv20 , where the diffusion constant is D=13v20τ . The units are [D]=L2/T. Integrating over velocities, we have the density n(r,t)=d3vf(r,v,t)=(4πDt)3/2er2/4Dt . Note that d3rn(r,t)=1 for all time. Total particle number is conserved!


This page titled 8.5: Diffusion and the Lorentz model is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Daniel Arovas.

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