1 research outputs found
Clustering and Non-Gaussian Behavior in Granular Matter
We investigate the properties of a model of granular matter consisting of
Brownian particles on a line subject to inelastic mutual collisions. This model
displays a genuine thermodynamic limit for the mean values of the energy and
the energy dissipation. When the typical relaxation time associated with
the Brownian process is small compared with the mean collision time
the spatial density is nearly homogeneous and the velocity probability
distribution is gaussian. In the opposite limit one has
strong spatial clustering, with a fractal distribution of particles, and the
velocity probability distribution strongly deviates from the gaussian one.Comment: 4 pages including 3 eps figures, LaTex, added references, corrected
typos, minimally changed contents and abstract, to published in
Phys.Rev.Lett. (tentatively on 28th of October, 1998