Angular velocity distribution of a granular planar rotator in a thermalized bath

摘要

The kinetics of a granular planar rotator with a fixed center undergoinginelastic collisions with bath particles is analyzed both numerically andanalytically by means of the Boltzmann equation. The angular velocitydistribution evolves from quasi-gaussian in the Brownian limit to an algebraicdecay in the limit of an infinitely light particle. In addition, we comparethis model with a planar rotator with a free center. We propose experimentaltests that might confirm the predicted behaviors.