The dynamics of coupled nonlinear model Boltzmann equations

A multispecies gas described by coupled nonlinear Boltzmann equations is studied as a dynamical system. Properties are determined of theN coupled nonlinear ODEs for the number densities obtained from the Boltzmann equations for the spatially uniform system ofN species undergoing binary scattering, removal, and regeneration in the presence of an external force field and a reservoir of background gas. The physically realizable setQ, the nonnegative cone in theN-dimensional phase space of species number densities, is established as invariant under the flow. The fixed-point equations for the ODEs are shown to be equivalent to 2 ^N linear systems, and conditions for the stability and instability of the fixed points are then established. Stable fixed points are demonstrated to exist inQ by showing that they enter via a sequence of transcritical bifurcations as physical parameters are varied. For the two-species case the typical global structure of the solutions is established. Various particular cases are described including one which possesses an infinite family of periodic solutions and one that depends delicately upon initial conditions due to a separatrix that separatesQ into two invariant sets.