Three-particle collision effects in the transport properties of a gas of hard spheres

A complete description of the kinetic behavior of a moderately dense gas requires an assessment of the effects of three-particle correlations. These correlations are of both a statistical and a dynamical nature. For a gas of hard spheres they can be classified as related to sequences of one, two, three and four successive collisions among three molecules. A quantitative analysis is made of the contributions of these collision sequences to the initial density dependence of the transport properties.