Free path lengths in quasi crystals

DOI10.1007/S10955-012-0500-3zbMATH Open1246.82081arXiv1201.0450OpenAlexW3098983664MaRDI QIDQ438841FDOQ438841

Authors: Bernt Wennberg 

Publication date: 31 July 2012

Published in: Journal of Statistical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: The Lorentz gas is a model for a cloud of point particles (electrons) in a distribution of scatterers in space. The scatterers are often assumed to be spherical with a fixed diameter $d$, and the point particles move with constant velocity between the scatterers, and are specularly reflected when hitting a scatterer. There is no interaction between point particles. An interesting question concerns the distribution of free path lengths, i.e. the distance a point particle moves between the scattering events, and how this distribution scales with scatterer diameter, scatterer density and the distribution of the scatterers. It is by now well known that in the so-called Boltzmann-Grad limit, a Poisson distribution of scatters leads to an exponential distribution of free path lengths, whereas if the scatterer distribution is periodic, the distribution of free path behaves asymptotically like a Cauchy distribution. This paper considers the case when the scatters are distributed on a quasi crystal, i.e. non periodically, but with a long range order. Simulations of a one-dimensional model are presented, showing that the quasi crystal behaves very much like a periodic crystal, and in particular, the distribution of free path lengths is not exponential.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1201.0450

Recommendations

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• On the distribution of free path lengths for the periodic Lorentz gas. II
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zbMATH Keywords

Lorentz gasfree path lengthsquasi crystal

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Kinetic theory of gases in time-dependent statistical mechanics (82C40) Statistical mechanics of crystals (82D25)

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Cited In (8)

• Efficient algorithm for simulating particles in true quasiperiodic environments
• Free and fragmenting filling length.
• Free path lengths in quasicrystals
• Walk of a line defect in quasicrystals
• Power-law distributions for the free path length in Lorentz gases
• The free path in a high velocity random flight process associated to a Lorentz gas in an external field
• Tail asymptotics of free path lengths for the periodic Lorentz process: on Dettmann's geometric conjectures
• Kinetic Theory for the Low-Density Lorentz Gas

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