Kinetic approach to granular gases

We address the problem of the so-called "granular gases," i.e., gases of massive particles in rapid movement undergoing inelastic collisions. We introduce a class of models of driven granular gases for which the stationary state is the result of the balance between the dissipation and the random forces which inject energies. These models exhibit a genuine thermodynamic limit, i.e., at fixed density the mean values of kinetic energy and dissipated energy per particle are independent of the number N of particles, for large values of N. One has two regimes: when,the typical relaxation time tau of the driving Brownian process is small compared with the mean collision time tau(c) the spatial density is nearly homogeneous and the velocity probability distribution is Gaussian. In the opposite limit tau much greater than tau(c) one has strong spatial clustering, with a fractal distribution of particles, and the velocity probability distribution strongly deviates from the Gaussian one. Simulations performed in one and two dimensions under the Stosszahlansatz Boltzmann approximation confirm the scenario. Furthermore, we analyze the instabilities bringing to the spatial and the velocity clusterization. Firstly, in the framework of a mean-field model, we explain how the existence of the inelasticity can lead to a spatial clusterization; on the other hand, we discuss, in the framework of a Langevin dynamics treating the collisions in a mean-field way, how a non-Gaussian distribution of velocity can arise. The comparison between the numerical and the analytical results exhibits an excellent agreement. [S1063-651X(99)02404-6].