On high energy tails in inelastic gases
arXiv:cond-mat/0510108 · doi:10.1016/j.physa.2005.10.037
Abstract
We study the formation of high energy tails in a one-dimensional kinetic model for granular gases, the so-called Inelastic Maxwell Model. We introduce a time- discretized version of the stochastic process, and show that continuous time implies larger fluctuations of the particles energies. This is due to a statistical relation between the number of inelastic collisions undergone by a particle and its average energy. This feature is responsible for the high energy tails in the model, as shown by computer simulations and by analytical calculations on a linear Lorentz model.
8 pages, 2 figures, submitted to physica a