Thermostatistics of a single particle on a granular dimer lattice: influence of defects

We study the thermostatistical fluctuations of a single Delrin monomer on a granular lattice of dimer particles using both experiment and simulation. The goal is to examine the collision frequency, energy injection, and sidewall effects on a single second-layer particle in a bi-layer granular gas experiment. Non-Gaussian velocity statistics are observed for the single particle of the top layer and result from the presence of defects in the first layer. These deviations are not directly due to the presence of the boundary wall, since the form of velocity distributions is quite spatially homogeneous, but are the consequence of the presence of a few mobile defects in the first layer.
Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. E