Dynamics of Freely Cooling Granular Gases

Abstract

We study dynamics of freely cooling granular gases in two-dimensions using large-scale molecular dynamics simulations. We find that for dilute systems the typical kinetic energy decays algebraically with time, E(t) ~ t^{-1}, in the long time limit. Asymptotically, velocity statistics are characterized by a universal Gaussian distribution, in contrast with the exponential high-energy tails characterizing the early homogeneous regime. We show that in the late clustering regime particles move coherently as typical local velocity fluctuations, Delta v, are small compared with the typical velocity, Delta v/v ~ t^{-1/4}. Furthermore, locally averaged shear modes dominate over acoustic modes. The small thermal velocity fluctuations suggest that the system can be heuristically described by Burgers-like equations.