Experimental velocity distributions in a granular submonolayer

• Speed distributions are obtained for granular mixtures of spheres and dimers.
• The results are well-described by a distribution developed for a 1D system.
• At higher packing fractions this distribution is particularly advantageous.
• This distribution may be extended to other mixtures.

Experimental speed distributions are obtained for driven granular submonolayers of binary mixtures of single spheres and dimers of spheres. The results are well-described by a distribution originally developed for a single-species one-dimensional system. This suggests that such a distribution may be extended to other mixtures such as systems exhibiting aggregation and dissociation.