Kinetic equation and nonequilibrium entropy for a quasi-two-dimensional gas.

A kinetic equation for a dilute gas of hard spheres confined between two parallel plates separated a distance smaller than two particle diameters is derived. It is a Boltzmann-like equation, which incorporates the effect of the confinement on the particle collisions. A function S(t) is constructed by adding to the Boltzmann expression a confinement contribution. Then it is shown that for the solutions of the kinetic equation, S(t) increases monotonically in time, until the system reaches a stationary inhomogeneous state, when S becomes the equilibrium entropy of the confined system as derived from equilibrium statistical mechanics. From the entropy, other equilibrium properties are obtained, and molecular dynamics simulations are used to verify some of the theoretical predictions.

Linear hydrodynamics for driven granular gases.

We study the dynamics of a granular gas heated by a stochastic thermostat. From a Boltzmann description, we derive the hydrodynamic equations for small perturbations around the stationary state that is reached in the long time limit. Transport coefficients are identified as Green-Kubo formulas obtaining explicit expressions as a function of the inelasticity and the spatial dimension.

Universal reference state in a driven homogeneous granular gas.

We study the dynamics of a homogeneous granular gas heated by a stochastic thermostat, in the low density limit. It is found that, before reaching the stationary regime, the system quickly "forgets" the initial condition and then evolves through a universal state that does not only depend on the dimensionless velocity, but also on the instantaneous temperature, suitably renormalized by its steady state value. We find excellent agreement between the theoretical predictions at the Boltzmann equation level for the one-particle distribution function and the direct Monte Carlo simulations. We conclude that at variance with the homogeneous cooling phenomenology, the velocity statistics should not be envisioned as a single-parameter, but as a two-parameter scaling form, keeping track of the distance to stationarity.

Entropy of continuous mixtures and the measure problem.

In its continuous version, the entropy functional measuring the information content of a given probability density may be plagued by a "measure" problem that results from improper weighting of phase space. This issue is addressed considering a generic collision process whereby a large number of particles or agents randomly and repeatedly interact in pairs, with prescribed conservation law(s). We find a sufficient condition under which the stationary single-particle distribution function maximizes an entropylike functional, that is free of the measure problem. This condition amounts to a factorization property of the Jacobian associated with the binary collision law, from which the proper weighting of phase space directly follows.

Dynamics of annihilation. I. Linearized Boltzmann equation and hydrodynamics.

We study the nonequilibrium statistical mechanics of a system of freely moving particles, in which binary encounters lead either to an elastic collision or to the disappearance of the pair. Such a system of ballistic annihilation therefore constantly loses particles. The dynamics of perturbations around the free decay regime is investigated using the spectral properties of the linearized Boltzmann operator, which characterize linear excitations on all time scales. The linearized Boltzmann equation is solved in the hydrodynamic limit by a projection technique, which yields the evolution equations for the relevant coarse-grained fields and expressions for the transport coefficients. We finally present the results of molecular dynamics simulations that validate the theoretical predictions.

Dynamics of annihilation. II. Fluctuations of global quantities.

We develop a theory for fluctuations and correlations in a gas evolving under ballistic annihilation dynamics. Starting from the hierarchy of equations governing the evolution of microscopic densities in phase space, we subsequently restrict our attention to a regime of spatial homogeneity, and obtain explicit predictions for the fluctuations and time correlation of the total number of particles, total linear momentum, and total kinetic energy. Cross correlations between these quantities are worked out as well. These predictions are successfully tested against molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations. This provides strong support for the theoretical approach developed, including the hydrodynamic treatment of the spectrum of the linearized Boltzmann operator. This paper makes use of the spectral analysis reported in the preceding paper [Phys. Rev. E 77, 051127 (2008)].

Brownian motion under annihilation dynamics.

The behavior of a heavy tagged intruder immersed in a bath of particles evolving under ballistic annihilation dynamics is investigated. The Fokker-Planck equation for this system is derived and the peculiarities of the corresponding diffusive behavior are worked out. In the long time limit, the intruder velocity distribution function approaches a Gaussian form, but with a different temperature from its bath counterpart. As a consequence of the continuous decay of particles in the bath, the mean-squared displacement increases exponentially in the collision per particle time scale. Analytical results are finally successfully tested against Monte Carlo numerical simulations.