Inelastic collapse of a randomly forced particle
Statistical Mechanics
2009-10-31 v1 Materials Science
Abstract
We consider a randomly forced particle moving in a finite region, which rebounds inelastically with coefficient of restitution r on collision with the boundaries. We show that there is a transition at a critical value of r, r_c\equiv e^{-\pi/\sqrt{3}}, above which the dynamics is ergodic but beneath which the particle undergoes inelastic collapse, coming to rest after an infinite number of collisions in a finite time. The value of r_c is argued to be independent of the size of the region or the presence of a viscous damping term in the equation of motion.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/9804229,
title = {Inelastic collapse of a randomly forced particle},
author = {Stephen J. Cornell and Michael R. Swift and Alan J. Bray},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/9804229},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4 pages, REVTEX, 2 EPS figures, uses multicol.sty and epsf.sty