On the fluid-dynamical approximation to the Boltzmann equation at the level of the Navier-Stokes equation

The compressible and heat-conductive Navier-Stokes equation obtained as the second approximation of the formal Chapman-Enskog expansion is investigated on its relations to the original nonlinear Boltzmann equation and also to the incompressible Navier-Stokes equation. The solutions of the Boltzmann equation and the incompressible Navier-Stokes equation for small initial data are proved to be asymptotically equivalent (mod decay ratet ^–5/4) ast+ to that of the compressible Navier-Stokes equation for the corresponding initial data.