Fractional Diffusion Limit for Collisional Kinetic Equations

Abstract

This paper is devoted to diffusion limits of linear Boltzmann equations. When the equilibrium distribution function is a Maxwellian distribution, it is well known that for an appropriate time scale, the small mean free path limit gives rise to a diffusion equation. In this paper, we consider situations in which the equilibrium distribution function is a heavy-tailed distribution with infinite variance. We then show that for an appropriate time scale, the small mean free path limit gives rise to a fractional diffusion equation.