2006/12/31 by Andrea Antoniazzi, Francesco Califano, Duccio Fanelli +1 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.98.150602
5 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2007/01/13 · arxiv updated 2015/06/25
We here discuss the emergence of Quasi Stationary States (QSS), a universal feature of systems with long-range interactions. With reference to the Hamiltonian Mean Field (HMF) model, numerical simulations are performed based on both the original N-body setting and the continuum Vlasov model which is supposed to hold in the thermodynamic limit. A detailed comparison unambiguously demonstrates that the Vlasov-wave system provides the correct framework to address the study of QSS. Further, analytical calculations based on Lynden-Bell's theory of violent relaxation are shown to result in accurate predictions. Finally, in specific regions of parameters space, Vlasov numerical solutions are shown to be affected by small scale fluctuations, a finding that points to the need for novel schemes able to account for particles correlations.