Entropy dissipation estimates for the relativistic Landau equation, and applications

Abstract

In this paper we study the Cauchy problem for the spatially homogeneous relativistic Landau equation with Coulomb interactions. Despite its physical importance, this equation has not received a lot of mathematical attention we think due to the extreme complexity of the relativistic structure of the kernel of the collision operator. In this paper we first largely decompose the structure of the relativistic Landau collision operator. After that we prove the global Entropy dissipation estimate. Then we prove the propagation of any polynomial moment for a weak solution. Lastly we prove the existence of a true weak solution for a large class of initial data.