Hydrodynamic limit of the kinetic Cucker–Smale flocking model

Abstract

The hydrodynamic limit of a kinetic Cucker–Smale flocking model is investigated. The starting point is the model considered in [Existence of weak solutions to kinetic flocking models, SIAM Math. Anal.45 (2013) 215–243], which in addition to free transport of individuals and a standard Cucker–Smale alignment operator, includes Brownian noise and strong local alignment. The latter was derived in [On strong local alignment in the kinetic Cucker–Smale equation, in Hyperbolic Conservation Laws and Related Analysis with Applications (Springer, 2013), pp. 227–242] as the singular limit of an alignment operator first introduced by Motsch and Tadmor in [A new model for self-organized dynamics and its flocking behavior, J. Stat. Phys.141 (2011) 923–947]. The objective of this work is the rigorous investigation of the singular limit corresponding to strong noise and strong local alignment. The proof relies on a relative entropy method. The asymptotic dynamics is described by an Euler-type flocking system.