Brownian Motion in a Classical Ideal Gas: a Microscopic Approach to Langevin's Equation

dc.creatorLahiri, Rangan
dc.creatorArvind
dc.creatorSain, Anirban
dc.date2002-07-10
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T02:46:12Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T02:46:12Z
dc.descriptionWe present an insightful ``derivation'' of the Langevin equation and the fluctuation dissipation theorem in the specific context of a heavier particle moving through an ideal gas of much lighter particles. The Newton's Law of motion ($m{\ddot x}=F$) for the heavy particle reduces to a Langevin equation (valid on a coarser time scale) with the assumption that the lighter gas particles follow a Boltzmann velocity distribution. Starting from the kinematics of the random collisions we show that (1) the average force $<F> \propto -{\dot x}$ and (2) the correlation function of the fluctuating force $η= F-< F>$ is related to the strength of the average force.
dc.description7 pages revtex4 3 eps figures included using psfig
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0207246
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0207246
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/19578
dc.subjectStatistical Mechanics
dc.subjectPhysics Education
dc.titleBrownian Motion in a Classical Ideal Gas: a Microscopic Approach to Langevin's Equation
dc.typetext

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