Kinetic theory of point vortices in 2D hydrodynamics

by Dr Pierre-Henri Chavanis (Laboratoire de Physique Théorique, IRSAMC, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France)

Thursday 25 Feb 2010, 15:00 → 17:00 Europe/Rome

Aula Majorana (Dipartimento di Fisica - Ed. G.Marconi)

This will include a brief introduction on the physics of systems with long range interactions (stressing the analogy between stellar systems and 2D vortices) and then discuss: statistical equilibrium states, thermodynamic limit, violent relaxation (Lynden-Bell's type), BBGKY hierarchy, collisional relaxation, kinetic blocking, relaxation of a point vortex in a thermal bath, front structure of the tail of the distribution function, algebraic correlation functions... Therefore, I will discuss the general aspects of the physics of long-range systems in the context of point vortices. The seminar will be a little technical (as for any kinetic theory). It can be understood by a large audience of researchers but it is not what we call ``seminaire de vulgarisation scientifique''.