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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 81 » Issue 20
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 4369–4372 (1998)

Clustering, Order, and Collapse in a Driven Granular Monolayer

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J. S. Olafsen* and J. S. Urbach
Department of Physics, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. 20057

Received 3 June 1998; published in the issue dated 16 November 1998

Steady state dynamics of clustering, long-range order, and inelastic collapse are experimentally observed in vertically shaken granular monolayers. At large vibration amplitudes, particle correlations show only short-range order like equilibrium 2D hard sphere gases. Lowering the amplitude “cools” the system, resulting in a dramatic increase in correlations leading to either clustering or an ordered state. Further cooling forms a collapse: a condensate of motionless balls coexisting with a less dense gas. Measured velocity distributions are non-Gaussian, showing nearly exponential tails.

© 1998 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.4369
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.4369
PACS:
46.10.+z, 05.70.Ln, 64.60.Qb, 83.10.Pp

*Email address: olafsen@physics.georgetown.edu

 
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