Topics in Kinetic Theory

PIMS/Accelerate Canada Summer School in PDE: Topics in Kinetic Theory

More info: http://www.math.ubc.ca/~gustaf/SummerSchool09/

Kinetic Theory offers many deep problems of fundamental significance in physics and engineering, typically related to questions of global well- posedness or validation of the basic equations; at the same time, kinetic equations have proved to be powerful models for numerous phenomena beyond the traditional realms of rarefied gases, plasmas or stellar systems. Presently, kinetic models are being studied for such diverse applications as gene-gene interactions in the cell (which involve reaction-diffusion of the transcribed mRNA and the translated proteins), radiative transfer in molten glass, traffic flows on multi-lane freeways, or even turbulence models. The full modelling cycle, from the derivation of a realistic set of equations, to well-posedness, qualitative behaviour of solutions, and numerical simulations, is being traversed by growing numbers of researchers pursuing these applications. North America is somewhat underrepresented in this research, while very strong groups are active in Europe (France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany and Sweden), Japan, China and Taiwan. The idea of this workshop is to offer about three mini-courses on both the analytical and numerical state for selected topics, taught by leaders in the field. These courses should be supplemented by lectures given by other senior and junior participants, possibly in poster format. This format should attract graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, introduce them to and entice them to pursue research in the field.