Authors: PierreHenri Chavanis
Publish Date: 2009/08/11
Volume: 24, Issue: 1-4, Pages: 217-239
Abstract
We discuss the kinetic theories of stellar systems twodimensional vortices and Hamiltonian mean field model stressing their analogies and differences We describe the evolution of the system as a whole and discuss the timescale of relaxation towards the Boltzmann distribution predicted by statistical mechanics We also consider the relaxation of a “test” particle in a bath of “field” particles and analyze it with the aid of a Fokker–Planck equation involving a term of diffusion counterbalanced by a friction or a drift
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