Ricerc@Sapienza

We consider a linear phonon Boltzmann equation with a reflecting/transmitting/absorbing interface. This equation appears as the Boltzmann-Grad limit for the energy density function of a harmonic chain of oscillators with inter-particle stochastic scattering in the presence of a heat bath at temperature T in contact with one oscillator at the origin. We prove that under the diffusive scaling the solutions of the phonon equation tend to the solution p(t, y) of a heat equation with the boundary condition rho(t, 0) (math) T.