Exact interpolation between Fick and Cattaneo diffusion in relativistic kinetic theory
Abstract
We construct a family of exactly solvable relativistic kinetic theories in dimensions whose hydrodynamic sector continuously interpolates between Fick's and Cattaneo's laws of diffusion. The interpolation is controlled by a single parameter , which tunes the microscopic scattering dynamics from infinitely soft but infinitely frequent scatterings (), reproducing standard diffusion, to maximally hard but finite-rate scatterings (), yielding hyperbolic Cattaneo-type transport. For intermediate values of , the dynamics combines frequent weak scatterings with rare strong randomizing events, providing a concrete microscopic realization of mixed diffusive-telegraphic behavior. Remarkably, the full quasinormal mode spectrum can be obtained analytically for all . This allows us to track explicitly how purely diffusive modes continuously deform into damped propagating modes as the collision structure is varied.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2604.00984,
title = {Exact interpolation between Fick and Cattaneo diffusion in relativistic kinetic theory},
author = {Lorenzo Gavassino},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.00984},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
10 pages, 4 figures, comments welcome!