Thermalization of an anisotropic granular particle.

We investigate the dynamics of a needle in a two-dimensional bath composed of thermalized point particles. Collisions between the needle and points are inelastic and characterized by a normal restitution coefficient alpha<1. By using the Enskog-Boltzmann equation, we obtain analytical expressions for the translational and rotational granular temperatures of the needle and show that these are, in general, different from the bath temperature. The translational temperature always exceeds the rotational one, though the difference decreases with increasing moment of inertia. The predictions of the theory are in very good agreement with numerical simulations of the model.