Representations of the transport equation for reactive processes

Abstract

The standard transport equation in the phase space (R, p) representation with streaming in R space at fixed momentum p and streaming in p space at fixed position R is converted to a more compact and useful (field-free) form which, in an energy E/angular momentum L representation yields quite naturally a basic microscopic equation of continuity valuable in general to the solution of the Boltzmann equation. The analysis is directly relevant to the theory of various energy transfer processes in a gas. The appropriate set of transport-collisional equations governing termolecular ion-atom association and ion-ion recombination of atomic species in a gas then follow quite naturally.