H-theorem for the hard-sphere gas

The approach to equilibrium of the hard-sphere gas is discussed from the master-equation point of view. AnH-theorem is established, which is valid for arbitrary initial conditions.     

Statistical properties of the periodic Lorentz gas. Multidimensional case

In 1981 Bunimovich and Sinai established the statistical properties of the planar periodic Lorentz gas with finite horizon. Our aim is to extend their theory to the multidimensional Lorentz gas. In that case the Markov partitions of the Bunimovich-Sinai type, the main tool of their theory, are not available. We use a crude approximation to such partitions, which we call Markov sieves. Their construction in many dimensions is essentially different from that in two dimensions; it requires more routine calculations and intricate arguments. We try to avoid technical details and outline the construction of the Markov sieves in mostly qualitative, heuristic terms, hoping to carry out our plan in full detail elsewhere. Modulo that construction, our proofs are conclusive. In the end, we obtain a stretched-exponential bound for the decay of correlations, the central limit theorem, and Donsker's Invariance Principle for multidimensional periodic Lorentz gases with finite horizon.     

Topological dynamics of flipping Lorentz lattice gas models

We study the topological dynamics of the flipping mirror model of Ruijgrok and Cohen with one or an infinite number of particles. In particular we prove the topological transitivity and topological mixing up to a natural first integral for the one-particle model.     

Statistical properties of two-dimensional periodic Lorentz gas with infinite horizon

We study the asymptotic statistical behavior of the 2-dimensional periodic Lorentz gas with an infinite horizon. We consider a particle moving freely in the plane with elastic reflections from a periodic set of fixed convex scatterers. We assume that the initial position of the particle in the phase space is random with uniform distribution with respect to the Liouville measure of the periodic problem. We are interested in the asymptotic statistical behavior of the particle displacement in the plane as the timet goes to infinity. We assume that the particle horizon is infinite, which means that the length of free motion of the particle is unbounded. Then we show that under some natural assumptions on the free motion vector autocorrelation function, the limit distribution of the particle displacement in the plane is Gaussian, but the normalization factor is (t logt)^1/2 and nott ^1/2 as in the classical case. We find the covariance matrix of the limit distribution.     

Stochastic hard-sphere dynamics for hydrodynamics of nonideal fluids

A novel stochastic fluid model is proposed with a nonideal structure factor consistent with compressibility, and adjustable transport coefficients. This stochastic hard-sphere dynamics (SHSD) algorithm is a modification of the direct simulation Monte Carlo algorithm and has several computational advantages over event-driven hard-sphere molecular dynamics. Surprisingly, SHSD results in an equation of state and a pair correlation function identical to that of a deterministic Hamiltonian system of penetrable spheres interacting with linear core pair potentials. The fluctuating hydrodynamic behavior of the SHSD fluid is verified for the Brownian motion of a nanoparticle suspended in a compressible solvent.     

Periodic orbit expansions for the Lorentz gas

We apply the periodic orbit expansion to the calculation of transport, thermodynamic, and chaotic properties of the finite-horizon triangular Lorentz gas. We show numerically that the inverse of the normalized Lyapunov number is a good estimate of the probability of an individual periodic orbit. We investigate the convergence of the periodic orbit expansion and compare it with the convergence of the cycle expansions obtained from the Ruelle dynamical -function. For this system with severe pruning we find that applying standard convergence acceleration schemes to the periodic orbit expansion is superior to the dynamical -function approach. The averages obtained from the periodic orbit expansion are within 8% of the values obtained from direct numerical time and ensemble averaging. None of the periodic orbit expansions used here is computationally competitive with the standard simulation approaches for calculating averages. However, we believe that these expansion methods are of fundamental importance, because they give a direct route to the phase space distribution function.     

Linear dynamics of dilute hard-sphere suspensions

We study the linear dynamics of a dilute dispersion of solid spherical particles in an incompressible viscous fluid. We start from a rest situation, in which the spheres are assumed to be distributed at random. The rest situation is perturbed linearly by small oscillatory applied forces and torques acting on the solute particles, and by an oscillatory force density acting on the fluid. By averaging over an ensemble of rest configurations we obtain linear average equations of motion for the two-phase system with well-defined transport coefficients. We evaluate the transport coefficients as a function of wavenumber and frequency to first order in the volume fraction.     

Lorentz gas shear viscosity via nonequilibrium molecular dynamics and Boltzmann's equation

When nonequilibrium molecular dynamics is used to impose isothermal shear on a two-body periodic system of hard disks or spheres, the equations of motion reduce to those describing a Lorentz gas under shear. In this shearing Lorentz gas a single particle moves, isothermally, through a spatially periodic shearing crystal of infinitely massive scatterers. The curvilinear trajectories are calculated analytically and used to measure the dilute Lorentz gas viscosity at several strain rates. Simulations and solutions of Boltzmann's equation exhibit shear thinning resembling that found inN-body nonequilibrium simulations. For the three-dimensional Lorentz gas we obtained an exact expression for the viscosity which is valid at all strain rates. In two dimensions this is not possible due to the anisotropy of the scattering.     

On the Boltzmann equation for the Lorentz gas

We consider the Boltzmann-Grad limit for the Lorentz, or wind-tree, model. We prove that if is a fixed configuration of scatterer centers belonging to a set of full measure with respect to the Poisson distribution with parameter >0, then the evolution of an initial a.c. particle density tends in the Boltzmann-Grad limit to the solution of the Boltzmann equation for the model. As an intermediate step we prove that the process of the free path lengths and impact parameters induced by the Lebesgue measure on a small region tends to a limiting independent process.     

Large energy behavior of the velocity distribution for the hard-sphere gas

The initial-value problem for the Boltzmann-Lorentz equation for hard spheres at zero temperature is shown to be ill defined, the general solution depending on an arbitrary function. The uniqueness of the solution can be obtained by imposing the conservation of the number of particles (Carleman's type of condition does not suffice). The linearized Boltzmann equation for hard spheres is then analyzed, as it occurs in Enskog's method for calculating transport coefficients. It is demonstrated that in the case of viscosity and diffusion it is necessary to add supplementary conditions to obtain the uniqueness of the solution. The nonuniform character of Enskog's expansion and violation of positivity in the large velocity region are exhibited.     

The velocity correlation function for the Lorentz gas

The results of variational solutions of the repeated ring and self-consistent repeated ring equations for the two-and three-dimensional overlapping Lorentz gas (LG), as formulated in a previous report, are presented. Calculations of the full velocity correlation function (VCF) for the 2D LG, including long-time tails, are compared with those from molecular dynamics. The trial functions chosen lead to predictions for the long-time tails that improve as the density of the scatterers is increased. At a value of 0.24 for* (= ², where is the density and the radius of scatterers), the self-consistent amplitudes of the long-time tail are within 40% of the molecular dynamics. A limited number of 3D results for the short-time behavior of the repeated ring VCF are presented. The 3D solutions agree with the molecular dynamics to within 10%.     

A dynamical partition function for the Lorentz gas

In this paper we introduce a dynamically defined partition function for the Lorentz gas and investigate its connection with the classical ensembles and the phase-space probability measure derived from periodic orbit expansions. Numerical evidence is presented to support the equivalence of these measures and to link them to the thermodynamic quantities for the Lorentz gas. This also suggests a new dynamical basis for the assumption of equala priori probabilities in the microcanonical ensemble.     

Invariance principle for the stochastic Lorentz lattice gas

We prove scaling to nondegenerate Brownian motion for the path of a test particle in the stochastic Lorentz lattice gas on ^d under a weak ergodicity assumption on the scatterer distribution. We prove that recurrence holds almost surely ind2. Transience ind3 remains open.     

Start-phase ionization dynamics in the laser plasma at low gas target densities

In Xe laser-produced-plasma sources of short-wave radiation, the laser-energy-to-EUV conversion efficiency (CE) proves substantially less than theoretical expectations. In the present work, a calculated estimate has been made which indicates that a long period of the primary ionization, lasting up to a moment when high-Z ions appear to emit short-wave photons, can be one of main causes for this. During that period the plasma remains low-ionized and absorbs weakly the laser energy. The estimate above has been experimentally confirmed with spectroscopic data and those on the effective ion charge derived from measured absorption of the laser radiation in the plasma. A preionization of the gas target with an ultraviolet (UV) excimer laser pulse is proposed as a method to accelerate the ionization process and consequently, to enhance CE.     

Molecular dynamics calculations of the hard-sphere equation of state

The equation of state of the hard-sphere fluid is studied by a Monte Carlomolecular dynamics method for volumes ranging from 25V ₀ to 1.6V ₀ , whereV ₀ is the close-packed volume, and for system sizes from 108 to 4000 particles. TheN dependence of the equation of state is compared to the theoretical dependence given by Salsburg for theNPT ensemble, after correction for the ensemble difference, in order to obtain estimates for the thermodynamic limit. The observed values of the pressure are compared with both the [3/2] and the [2/3] Padé approximants to the virial series, using Kratky's value for the fifth virial coefficientB ₅ and choosingB ₆ andB ₇, to obtain a least-squares fit. The resulting values ofB ₆ andB ₇ lie within the uncertainties of the Ree-Hoover-Kratky Monte Carlo estimates for these virial coefficients. The values ofB ₈,B ₉, andB ₁₀ predicted by our optimal [3/2] approximant are also reported. Finally, the Monte Carlo-molecular dynamics equation of state is compared with a number of analytic expressions for the hard-sphere equation of state.Work supported by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy.     

Particle densities for dilute hard-sphere Bose or Fermi gases in an external potential

We prove that if the diameter of a hard-sphere is much smaller than the size of an external potential, the s-wave pseudopotential reduces to the Huang-Yang s-wave pseudopotential. We obtain the first-order virial expansions of particle densities for dilute hard-sphere Bose or Fermi gases in an arbitrary external potential. In the absence of an external potential, the results reduce to the Huang-Yang-Luttinger and Lee-Yang virial expansions. In the quasi-classical limit, the results reduce to the results of the local density approximation.     

Channeling and the periodic Lorentz gas

Properties of the periodic Lorentz gas, which describes particle motion in a lattice of hard spheres, are related to experiments on channeling in crystals. Extensive theoretical knowledge of the Lorentz gas can be applied to make predictions about diffusion and radiation in channeling experiments.     

Decay of correlations in the Lorentz gas

Computer molecular dynamics calculations give no support to the mode-coupling prediction that the power law of the asymptotic decay of the velocity autocorrelation function is independent of the density of the Lorentz scatters.     

A note on Lorentz transformation properties of conserved charges

It is shown that in classical relativistic field theories there may exist global conserved charges which are not Lorentz-covariant quantities.