Phase diagram of van der Waals–like phase separation in a driven granular gas

Equations of granular hydrostatics are used to compute the phase diagram of the recently discovered van der Waals–like phase separation in a driven granular gas. The model two-dimensional system consists of smooth hard disks in a rectangular box, colliding inelastically with each other and driven by a “thermal” wall at zero gravity. The spinodal line and the critical point of the phase separation are determined. Close to the critical point, the spinodal and binodal (coexistence) lines are determined analytically. Effects of the finite size of the confining box in the direction parallel to the thermal wall are investigated. These include suppression of the phase separation by heat conduction in the lateral direction and a change from supercritical to subcritical bifurcation.