Abstract
We study freely evolving inelastic granular gases via molecular dynamics simulations in d = 2,3 dimensions. This system initially loses energy or cools in a homogeneous cooling state (HCS). However, the granular gas is unstable to fluctuations in the velocity and density fields, and its asymptotic state is an inhomogeneous cooling state (ICS). We discuss the nature of velocity distributions in both the HCS and the ICS.