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University of Cambridge

Relaxation to equilibrium for kinetic Fokker-Planck equation

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

We want to study long-time behaviour of solutions ft of kinetic Fokker-Planck equation in \mathbb{R}d, namely their convergence towards equilibrium f\infty in the form \[ \textrm{d}(f_t,f_\infty)\leq C_1 e^{-C_2 t}\textrm{d}(f_0,\mu) \] for appropriate distances d and constants C1 \geq 1, C2>0. In Section 1 we provide an introduction and motivation for the equation, together with the setting of {Villani, Hypocoercivity} which will be useful in Section 2. In Section 2 we will review the monograph {Villani, Hypocoercivity}, where such convergence is proved, for h=f/μ, in H1 (μ) and H\mu +I\mu, that is, the sum of relative entropy and Fisher information. Here results are stated in terms of general operators \partialt +A*A+B=0, and commutation conditions on $A$ and $B$ are to be imposed. In Section 3 we shall take into consideration the work by Monmarch\'{e} {Monmarche, Generalized Γ calculus} in which such convergence is established by rephrasing some concepts in term of $\Gamma$-calculus: with respect to {Villani, Hypocoercivity} there is no need for regularization along the semigroup since the functional taken into account is a modified $H+I$ that at initial time only takes entropy into account, and the argument turns out to be shorter. Also, the convergence rate is e-Ct(1-e-t)2 instead of C1 e-C2 t. However it turns out, as in {Villani, Hypocoercivity}, that for this case it is strictly needed to have a pointwise bound on D2 U, where $U$ is the confinement potential. A drawback of this method with respect to {Villani, Hypocoercivity} is that, in a more general setting than kinetic Fokker-Planck equation, stronger commutation assumptions are required, which imply that the diffusion matrix is basically required to be constant. On this work a specific analysis was carried out, simplifying the proof for our Fokker-Planck case and finding explicit and improved expressions for convergence constants. The same author in {Monmarche, chaos kinetic particles}, which is the subject of Section 4, addresses a Vlasov-Fokker-Planck equation with a potential that generalizes $U$ and the related particle system. Chaos propagation in W2, the $2$-Wasserstein distance, is proved, namely W2(ft(1,N),ft)\leq CN. This leads to both Wasserstein and L1 hypocoercivity, however dependence of the right hand side from the initial data is not linear as wished.

Degree

thesis:*
Name dc:type.qualificationname
Master of Science (MSc)
Level dc:type.qualificationlevel
Masters
Grantor dc:publisher.institution
University of Cambridge
Year dc:date.issued
2019

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Piazzoli, Davide
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • Mouhot, Clément

Subjects

dc:subject × 18

Rights

dc:rights
Language dc:language
en

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
DOI dc:identifier.doi
https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.32020
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/284646

Chain of custody

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Last updated
2026-07-22
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citation

Piazzoli, Davide. Relaxation to equilibrium for kinetic Fokker-Planck equation. Masters thesis, University of Cambridge, 2019. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.32020