Dynamics of heterogeneous hard spheres in a file
arXiv:1002.1450 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.82.031126
Abstract
Normal dynamics in a quasi-one-dimensional channel of length L (\to\infty) of N hard spheres are analyzed. The spheres are heterogeneous: each has a diffusion coefficient D that is drawn from a probability density function (PDF), W D^(-γ), for small D, where 0\leqγ<1. The initial spheres' density ρ is non-uniform and scales with the distance (from the origin) l as, ρ l^(-a), 0\leqa\leq1. An approximation for the N-particle PDF for this problem is derived. From this solution, scaling law analysis and numerical simulations, we show here that the mean square displacement for a particle in such a system obeys, <r^2>~t^(1-γ)/(2c-γ), where c=1/(1+a). The PDF of the tagged particle is Gaussian in position. Generalizations of these results are considered.