Bogoliubov-Born-Green-Kirkwood-Yvon hierarchy methods for sums of Lyapunov exponents for dilute gases.

We consider a general method for computing the sum of positive Lyapunov exponents for moderately dense gases. This method is based upon hierarchy techniques used previously to derive the generalized Boltzmann equation for the time-dependent spatial and velocity distribution functions for such systems. We extend the variables in the generalized Boltzmann equation to include a new set of quantities that describe the separation of trajectories in phase space needed for a calculation of the Lyapunov exponents. The method described here is especially suitable for calculating the sum of all of the positive Lyapunov exponents for the system, and may be applied to equilibrium as well as nonequilibrium situations. For low densities we obtain an extended Boltzmann equation, from which, under a simplifying approximation, we recover the sum of positive Lyapunov exponents for hard-disk and hard-sphere systems, obtained before by a simpler method. In addition we indicate how to improve these results by avoiding the simplifying approximation. The restriction to hard-sphere systems in d dimensions is made to keep the somewhat complicated formalism as clear as possible, but the method can be easily generalized to apply to gases of particles that interact with strong short-range forces. (c) 1998 American Institute of Physics.