Mixtures of relativistic gases in gravitational fields: Combined Chapman-Enskog and Grad method and the Onsager relations.

Abstract

In this work we study an r-species mixture of gases within the relativistic kinetic theory point of view. We use the relativistic covariant Boltzmann equation and incorporate the Schwarzschild metric. The method of solution of the Boltzmann equation is a combination of the Chapman-Enskog and Grad representations. The thermodynamic four-fluxes are expressed as functions of the thermodynamic forces so the generalized expressions for the Navier-Stokes, Fick, and Fourier laws are obtained. The constitutive equations for the diffusion and heat four-fluxes of the mixture are functions of thermal and diffusion generalized forces which depend on the acceleration and the gravitational potential gradient. While this dependence is of relativistic nature for the thermal force, this is not the case for the diffusion forces. We show also that the matrix of diffusion coefficients is symmetric, implying that the thermal-diffusion equals the diffusion-thermal effect, proving the Onsager reciprocity relations. The entropy four-flow of the mixture is also expressed in terms of the thermal and diffusion generalized forces, so its dependence on the acceleration and gravitational potential gradient is also determined.