Fermi Statistics of Weakly Excited Granular Materials in a Vibrating Bed II: One Dimensional Experiment

A one dimensional experiment in granular dynamics is carried out to test the thermodynamic theory of weakly excited granular systems [Hayakawa and Hong, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 78}, 2764(1997)] where granular particles are treated as spinless Fermions. The density profile is measured and then fit to the Fermi distribution function, from which the global temperature of the system, T, is determined. Then the center of mass, <z(T)>, and its fluctuations, <(\Delta z(T))^2>, are measured and plotted as functions of T. The Fermi function fits the density profile fairly well, with the value of T being fairly close to the predicted value. The scaling behavior of <z(T)> and <(\Delta z(T))^2> is in excellent agreement with the theory.