Numerical study of translational nonequilibrium in an He–Xe mixture by direct simulation Monte Carlo

The distributions of pairs of particles over relative velocities at the shock wave front in He with a small Xe additive have been studied. It has turned out that the values of the distributions over relative velocities for an Xe–Xe atomic pair far (up to 10$^9$ times) exceed their equilibrium values behind a shock wave within a narrow part of its front at high velocities of the wave and small Mach numbers (M = 2). This feature is lacking in the distributions of He–Xe atomic pairs over relative velocities.