Tagged particle diffusion in one-dimensional gas with Hamiltonian dynamics

Abstract

We consider a one-dimensional gas of hard point particles in a finite box that are in thermal equilibrium and evolving under Hamiltonian dynamics. Tagged particle correlation functions of the middle particle are studied. For the special case where all particles have the same mass, we obtain analytic results for the velocity auto-correlation function in the short time diffusive regime and the long time approach to the saturation value when finite-size effects become relevant. In the case where the masses are unequal, numerical simulations indicate sub-diffusive behaviour with mean square displacement of the tagged particle growing as t/ln(t) with time t. Also various correlation functions, involving the velocity and position of the tagged particle, show damped oscillations at long times that are absent for the equal mass case.