On the non-stationary Maxwellians

摘要

The exact Maxwell solutions of the non-linear Boltzmann equation which have the most general form are studied. They are inhomogeneous and non-stationary and describe rather complex motions of a rarefied gas. The classification of all possible types of these motions is obtained with a detailed analysis of the geometrical and physical features of the corresponding flows in a gas. In particular, the rotating and flying translational flows have non-symmetric structure with two different axes: the axis of velocities and the axis of the density. The, approximate description of the interaction between such flows by the bimodal distributions of a special form for the model of hard spheres is also obtained. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.