Generalized Linear Boltzmann Equations for Particle Transport in Polycrystals

Abstract

The linear Boltzmann equation describes the macroscopic transport of a gas of non-interacting point particles in low-density matter. It has wide-ranging applications, including neutron transport, radiative transfer, semiconductors, and ocean wave scattering. Recent research shows that the equation fails in highly correlated media, where the distribution of free path lengths is non-exponential. We investigate this phenomenon in the case of polycrystals whose typical grain size is comparable with the mean free path length. Our principal result is a new generalized linear Boltzmann equation that captures the long-range memory effects in this setting. A key feature is that the distribution of free path lengths has an exponential decay rate, as opposed to a power-law distribution observed in a single crystal.