{"paper":{"title":"Dynamics of a Massive Piston in an Ideal Gas: Oscillatory Motion and Approach to Equilibrium","license":"","headline":"","cross_cats":[],"primary_cat":"cond-mat.stat-mech","authors_text":"J. L. Lebowitz, N. Chernov","submitted_at":"2002-12-30T21:44:17Z","abstract_excerpt":"We study numerically and theoretically (on a heuristic level) the time evolution of a gas confined to a cube of size $L^3$ divided into two parts by a piston with mass $M_L \\sim L^2$ which can only move in the $x$-direction. Starting with a uniform ``double-peaked'' (non Maxwellian) distribution of the gas and a stationary piston, we find that (a) after an initial quiescent period the system becomes unstable and the piston performs a damped oscillatory motion, and (b) there is a thermalization of the system leading to a Maxwellian distribution of the gas velocities. The time of the onset of th"},"claims":{"count":0,"items":[],"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"source":{"id":"cond-mat/0212638","kind":"arxiv","version":1},"verdict":{"id":null,"model_set":{},"created_at":null,"strongest_claim":"","one_line_summary":"","pipeline_version":null,"weakest_assumption":"","pith_extraction_headline":""},"references":{"count":0,"sample":[],"resolved_work":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57","internal_anchors":0},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}