title: Equilibrium statistics of an inelastically bouncing ball, subject to gravity and a random force.
abstract: We consider a particle moving on the half line x > 0 and subject to a constant force in the -x direction plus a delta-correlated random force. At x = 0 the particle is reflected inelastically. The velocities just after and before the reflection satisfy v(f) = -r v(i), where r is the coefficient of restitution. This simple model is of interest in connection with studies of driven granular matter in a gravitational field. With an exact analytical approach and simulations we study the steady-state distribution function P(x,v).
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122, USA.
authors.forename: Theodore W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Burkhardt
authors.forename: Stanislav N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Kotsev