title: Anisotropic dynamics in a shaken granular dimer gas experiment.
abstract: The dynamics, velocity fluctuations, and particle-plate interactions for a two-dimensional granular gas of shaken, nonspherical particles are studied experimentally. The experiment consists of a horizontal plate that is vertically oscillated to drive the dynamics of macroscopic dimers, spherical pairs that are loosely connected by a rod that couple the interaction each of the spheres has with the shaking plate. The extended nature of the particles results in more than one energy-momentum transfer between the plate and each dimer per shaking cycle. This complex interaction results in anisotropic behavior for the dimer that is a function of the shaking parameters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Atwell
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Olafsen