Entropy dissipation inequality for general binary collision models

Abstract: We introduce a ``two-particle factorization'' condition which allows us to formulate the homogeneous Boltzmann equation for non-reversible collision kernels in terms of an entropy inequality. This formulation yields an H-Theorem. We provide some examples of non-reversible binary collision models with a concentration/dispersion mechanism, as in opinion dynamics, which satisfy this condition. As a preliminary step, we also provide an analogous variational formulation of non-reversible continuous time Markov chains, expressed in terms of an entropy dissipation inequality.