EFFECT OF DISSIPATION ON DENSITY PROFILE OF ONE-DIMENSIONAL GAS

We study the effect of dissipation on the density profile of a one-dim ensional gas that is subject to gravity. The gas is in thermal equilib rium at temperature T with a heat reservoir at the bottom wall. Pertur bative analysis of the Boltzmann equation reveals that the correction due to dissipation resulting from inelastic collisions is positive for 0 less than or equal to z<z(c) and negative for z>z(c) with z the ver tical coordinate. The numerically determined value for z(c) is mgz(c)/ k(B)T approximate to 1.1613, where g is the gravitational constant and m is the particle mass. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights res erved.