Rigorous derivation of the Fick cross-diffusion system from the multi-species Boltzmann equation in the diffusive scaling

Abstract

We present the arising of the Fick cross-diffusion system of equations for fluid mixtures from the multi-species Boltzmann equation in a rigorous manner in Sobolev spaces. To this end, we formally show that, in a diffusive scaling, the hydrodynamical limit of the kinetic system is the Fick model supplemented with a closure relation and we give explicit formulae for the macroscopic diffusion coefficients from the Boltzmann collision operator. Then, we provide a perturbative Cauchy theory in Sobolev spaces for the constructed Fick system, which turns out to be a dilated parabolic equation. We finally prove the stability of the system in the Boltzmann equation, ensuring a rigorous derivation between the two models.