Self-diffusion in granular gases

Nikolai V. Brilliantov, Thorsten Poeschel

Published 1998-03-31, updated 1999-05-26Version 2

The coefficient of self-diffusion for a homogeneously cooling granular gas changes significantly if the impact-velocity dependence of the restitution coefficient $\epsilon$ is taken into account. For the case of a constant $\epsilon$ the particles spread logarithmically slow with time, whereas the velocity dependent coefficient yields a power law time-dependence. The impact of the difference in these time dependences on the properties of a freely cooling granular gas is discussed.