Statistical-Mechanical Study of the Collision between a Crystal Lattice and a Rigid Wall

Abstract

The coefficient of restitution and the collision contact period are analyzed from a statistical-mechanical point of view through studying the collision between a one-dimensional anharmonic lattice and a rigid wall as a typical example. The contact period is defined as the time span between the first time and the last time when the atom at the end of the lattice contacts with the rigid wall. A similar collision problem for the harmonic lattice is also studied for the sake of comparison.