Stability, convergence to the steady state and elastic limit for the Boltzmann equation for diffusively excited granular media

Abstract

We consider a space-homogeneous gas of {\it inelastic hard spheres}, with a {\it diffusive term} representing a random background forcing (in the framework of so-called {\em constant normal restitution coefficients} $\alpha \in [0,1]$ for the inelasticity). In the physical regime of a small inelasticity (that is $\alpha \in [\alpha_*,1)$ for some constructive $\alpha_* \in [0,1)$) we prove uniqueness of the stationary solution for given values of the restitution coefficient $\alpha \in [\alpha_*,1)$, the mass and the momentum, and we give various results on the linear stability and nonlinear stability of this stationary solution.