MODERATELY DENSE GAS QUANTUM KINETIC-THEORY - ASPECTS OF PAIR CORRELATIONS

A recently formulated density corrected quantum Boltzmann equation emp hasizes the need to explicitly include pair correlations and the conve rsion of kinetic energy to potential energy as important effects in th e kinetic theory of moderately dense gases. This paper first considers an appropriate evolution equation for the pair correlations which inc ludes their decay via interactions with other particles in the gas. Th e molecular description is given of such a gas close to local thermal equilibrium, together with expressions for the associated hydrodynamic variables. Wigner functions are used to uniquely separate macroscopic and microscopic properties. An accompanying paper solves the combinat ion of linearized Boltzmann and correlated pair equations to obtain ex pressions for the transport coefficients. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.