Thermostat for a relativistic gas

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how to couple a relativistic gas to a thermostat in molecular dynamics simulations, ensuring the velocity distribution matches the Jüttner distribution and analyzing the thermostat's behavior across different parameters.

Contribution

It introduces a method to implement thermostats in relativistic gas simulations and evaluates their effectiveness in maintaining the canonical ensemble.

Findings

Velocity distribution matches Jüttner distribution

Thermostat behavior depends on thermal inertia

Optimal thermal inertia range identified

Abstract

Molecular dynamics simulations of a three dimensional relativistic gas with a soft potential are conducted with different interactions and particle masses. For all cases the velocity distribution agrees numerically with the J\"uttner distribution. We show how the relativistic gas can be coupled to a thermostat to simulate the canonical ensemble at a given temperature T. The behaviour of the thermostat is investigated as a function of the thermal inertia and its appropriate range is determined by evaluating the kinetic energy fluctuations.