Abstract (EN)

We establish a large deviation theory for a velocity jump process, where new random velocities are picked at a constant rate from a Gaussian distribution. The Kolmogorov forward equation associated with this process is a linear kinetic transport equation in which the BGK operator accounts for the changes in velocity. We analyse its asymptotic limit after a suitable rescaling compatible with the WKB expansion. This yields a new type of Hamilton Jacobi equation which is non local with respect to velocity variable. We introduce a dedicated notion of viscosity solution for the limit problem, and we prove well-posedness in the viscosity sense. The fundamental solution is explicitly computed, yielding quantitative estimates for the large deviations of the underlying velocity-jump process à la Freidlin-Wentzell. As an application of this theory, we conjecture exact rates of acceleration in some nonlinear kinetic reaction-transport equations.