Thermodynamics of a bouncer model: a simplified one-dimensional gas

Abstract

Some dynamical properties of non interacting particles in a bouncer model are described. They move under gravity experiencing collisions with a moving platform. The evolution to steady state is described in two cases for dissipative dynamics with inelastic collisions: (i) for large initial energy; (ii) for low initial energy. For (i) we prove an exponential decay while for (ii) a power law marked by a changeover to the steady state is observed. A relation for collisions and time is obtained and allows us to write relevant observables as temperature and entropy as function of either number of collisions and time.