Phi-entropies for Fokker-Planck and kinetic Fokker-Planck equations

TL;DR

This paper explores phi-entropies for Fokker-Planck equations, providing new proofs and establishing sharp decay rates, especially in kinetic contexts where diffusion acts only on velocities.

Contribution

It adapts phi-entropy methods to kinetic Fokker-Planck equations, deriving sharp decay rates and improving understanding of entropy decay in kinetic systems.

Findings

Established sharp decay rates for phi-entropy in kinetic Fokker-Planck equations

Proved that faster entropy decay occurs at the kinetic level in asymptotic regimes

Provided simplified proofs and benchmark cases for entropy decay analysis

Abstract

This paper is devoted to $\phi$-entropies applied to Fokker-Planck and kinetic Fokker-Planck equations in the whole space, with confinement. The so-called $\phi$-entropies are Lyapunov functionals which typically interpolate between Gibbs entropies and L2 estimates. We review some of their properties in the case of diffusion equations of Fokker-Planck type, give new and simplified proofs, and then adapt these methods to a kinetic Fokker-Planck equation acting on a phase space with positions and velocities. At kinetic level, since the diffusion only acts on the velocity variable, the transport operator plays an essential role in the relaxation process. Here we adopt the H1 point of view and establish a sharp decay rate. Rather than giving general but quantitatively vague estimates, our goal here is to consider simple cases, benchmark available methods and obtain sharp estimates on a key example. Some $\phi$-entropies give rise to improved entropy -- entropy production inequalities and, as a consequence, to faster decay rates for entropy estimates of solutions to non-degenerate diffusion equations. Our main result is to prove that faster entropy decay also holds at kinetic level and that optimal decay rates are achieved only in asymptotic regimes.