Scaling and universality of critical fluctuations in granular gases

The total energy fluctuations of a low-density granular gas in the homogeneous cooling state near the threshold of the clustering instability are studied by means of molecular dynamics simulations. The relative dispersion of the fluctuations is shown to exhibit a power-law divergent behavior. Moreov...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review letters Vol. 94; no. 9; p. 098001
Main Authors Brey, J Javier, García de Soria, M I, Maynar, P, Ruiz-Montero, M J
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 11.03.2005
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Summary:The total energy fluctuations of a low-density granular gas in the homogeneous cooling state near the threshold of the clustering instability are studied by means of molecular dynamics simulations. The relative dispersion of the fluctuations is shown to exhibit a power-law divergent behavior. Moreover, the probability distribution of the fluctuations presents data collapse as the system approaches the instability, for different values of the inelasticity. The function describing the collapse turns out to be the symmetric of the one found in several molecular equilibrium and nonequilibrium systems.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.098001