Fate of Boltzmann's breathers: Kinetic theory perspective

The dynamics of a system composed of elastic hard particles confined by an isotropic harmonic potential are studied. In the low-density limit, the Boltzmann equation provides an excellent description, and the system does not reach equilibrium except for highly specific initial conditions: it generically evolves toward and stays in a breathing mode. This state is periodic in time, with a Gaussian velocity distribution, an oscillating temperature, and a density profile that oscillates as well. We characterize this breather in terms of initial conditions and constants of the motion. For low but finite densities, the analysis requires taking into account the finite size of the particles. Under well-controlled approximations, a closed description is provided, which shows how equilibrium is reached at long times. The (weak) dissipation at work erodes the breather's amplitude, while concomitantly shifting its oscillation frequency. An excellent agreement is found between molecular dynamics simulation results and the theoretical predictions for the frequency shift. For the damping time, the agreement is not as accurate as for the frequency and the origin of the discrepancies is discussed.