Smoluchowski thermostat: a realistic introduction of the tangential momentum accommodation coefficient

This work presents a simulation technique that can be used to compute the thermal interaction between a gas and a cylindrically shaped wall. The method is computationally simple and is based on the Maxwell-Smoluchowski thermal wall scenario often used for the slit pore geometry. A geometric argument is used to find the corresponding thermalization mechanism for the cylindrical confinement. The algorithm serves as a thermostat, which enables one to perform constant-temperature simulations. By means of simple numerical simulations, Smoluchowski's expression for self-diffusivity D s is then recovered in reduced units. The tangential momentum accommodation coefficient is interpreted as a coupling constant for the thermostat similar to the one used for the ordinary Andersen thermostat but applied locally onto the boundary crossing particles.