| Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 74, Number 3, May 2006
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 424 - 430 | |
| Section | Physics of gases, plasmas and electric discharges | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2005-10555-6 | |
| Published online | 05 April 2006 | |
Breakdown of the Sonine expansion for the velocity distribution of granular gases
1
Institute of Physics, University of Potsdam - 14469 Potsdam, Germany
2
Department of Physics, Moscow State University - 119899 Moscow, Russia
3
Charité - Augustenburger Platz 1, 10439 Berlin, Germany
Received:
19
November
2005
Accepted:
3
March
2006
The velocity distribution of a granular gas
is analyzed in terms of
the Sonine polynomials expansion. We derive an analytical expression
for the third Sonine coefficient a3. In contrast to frequently
used assumptions this coefficient is of the same order of magnitude
as the second Sonine coefficient a2. For small inelasticity the
theoretical result is in good agreement with numerical simulations.
The next-order Sonine coefficients a4, a5 and a6 are
determined numerically. While these coefficients are negligible for
small dissipation, their magnitude grows rapidly with increasing
inelasticity for 
. We conclude that
this behavior of the Sonine coefficients manifests the breakdown of
the Sonine polynomial expansion caused by the increasing impact of
the overpopulated high-energy tail of the distribution function.
PACS: 51.10.+y – Kinetic and transport theory of gases / 45.70.-n – Granular systems / 05.20.-y – Classical statistical mechanics
© EDP Sciences, 2006
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