2004/12/15 by Giulio Costantini, Daniela Paolotti, Ciro Cattuto +1
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Bistability #Classical mechanics #Cluster analysis #Computer science #Computer simulation #Condensed matter physics #Equipartition theorem #Granular flow and fluidized beds #Inelastic collision #Kinetic energy #Magnetic field #Material Dynamics and Properties #Mean field theory #Mechanics #Particle Dynamics in Fluid Flows #Physics #Redistribution (election) #Stationary state #Statistical physics #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.physa.2004.08.084
published as Physica A 347, 411-428 (2005) · 23 pages, 12 figures
openalex publication_date 2004/12/15 · arxiv created 2005/02/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The behavior of a bidisperse inelastic gas vertically shaken in a compartmentalized container is investigated using two different approaches: the first is a mean-field dynamical model, which treats the number of particles in the two compartments and the associated kinetic temperatures in a self-consistent fashion; the second is an event-driven numerical simulation. Both approaches reveal a non-stationary regime, which has no counterpart in the case of monodisperse granular gases. Specifically, when the mass difference between the two species exceeds a certain threshold the populations display a bistable behavior, with particles of each species switching back and forth between compartments. The reason for such an unexpected behavior is attributed to the interplay of kinetic energy non-equipartition due to inelasticity with the energy redistribution induced by collisions. The mean-field model and numerical simulation are found to agree qualitatively.