What does an ideal wall look like?

This paper deals with the interface between a solid and an ideal gas. The surface of the solid is considered to be an ideal wall, if the flux of entropy is continuous, i.e. if the interaction between wall and gas is non-dissipative. The concept of an ideal wall is discussed within the framework of kinetic theory. In particular it is shown that a non-dissipative wall must be adiabatic and does not exerts shear stresses to the gas, if the interaction of a gas atom with the wall is not influenced by the presence of other gas atoms. It follows that temperature jumps and slip will be observed at virtually all walls, although they will be negligibly small in the hydrodynamic regime (i.e. for small Knudsen numbers). PACS 51.10.+y 05.70.Ln 47.45.Gx 47.10.ab