Anisotropic dynamics in a shaken granular dimer gas experiment

The dynamics, velocity fluctuations, and particle-plate interactions for a two-dimensional granular gas of shaken, nonspherical particles are studied experimentally. The experiment consists of a horizontal plate that is vertically oscillated to drive the dynamics of macroscopic dimers, spherical pairs that are loosely connected by a rod that couple the interaction each of the spheres has with the shaking plate. The extended nature of the particles results in more than one energy-momentum transfer between the plate and each dimer per shaking cycle. This complex interaction results in anisotropic behavior for the dimer that is a function of the shaking parameters.