On the Cauchy Problem for Boltzmann Equations: Global Existence and Weak Stability

We study the large-data Cauchy problem for Boltzmann equations with general collision kernels. We prove that sequences of solutions which satisfy only the physically natural a priori bounds converge weakly in L' to a solution. From this stability result we deduce global existence of a solution to the Cauchy problem. Our method relies upon recent compactness results for velocity averages, a new formulation of the Boltzmann equation which involves nonlinear normalization and an analysis of subsolutions and supersolutions. It allows us to overcome the lack of strong a priori estimates and define a meaningful collision operator for general configurations.