Formation of Maxwellian Tails
Journal
Physical Review Letters
Journal Volume
36
Journal Issue
19
Pages
1107-1109
Date Issued
1976
Author(s)
Abstract
Using two models, we study the relaxation to a Maxwell distribution in the context of classical kinetic theory. For the first model, an exact solution of the nonlinear Boltzmann equation is derived. For the second model, an asymptotic solution exhibits the remarkable feature of a transient tail population sometimes much larger than the equilibrium Maxwell distribution. This phenomenon may be of importance for calculating rates of fast chemical reactions and for controlled thermonuclear fusion.
Type
journal article