  A kinetic approach is adopted to describe the exponential growth of a small
deviation of the initial phase space point, measured by the largest Lyapunov
exponent, for a dilute system of hard disks, both in equilibrium and in a
uniform shear flow. We derive a generalized Boltzmann equation for an extended
one-particle distribution that includes deviations from the reference phase
space point. The equation is valid for very low densities n, and requires an
unusual expansion in powers of 1/|ln n|. It reproduces and extends results from
the earlier, more heuristic clock model and may be interpreted as describing a
front propagating into an unstable state. The asymptotic speed of propagation
of the front is proportional to the largest Lyapunov exponent of the system.
Its value may be found by applying the standard front speed selection mechanism
for pulled fronts to the case at hand. For the equilibrium case, an explicit
expression for the largest Lyapunov exponent is given and for sheared systems
we give explicit expressions that may be evaluated numerically to obtain the
shear rate dependence of the largest Lyapunov exponent.
