A kinetic description of particle fragmentation∗

This paper is concerned with the formulation and analysis of particle fragmentation by a mathematical approach of the kinetic theory. We consider a fairly general model which may require a description of the internal configuration of each particle, like internal energy. The fragmentation process is supposed to occur due to the configuration of the corresponding particle; An easy modification would allow to consider the interaction with some external medium (typically a fluid) but we do not deal here with fragmentation processes induced by particles collision. The proposed model is therefore linear and may be analyzed with the use of correct entropies.