We describe the velocity distribution function of a granular gas of electrically charged particles by means of a Sonine polynomial expansion and study the decay of its granular temperature. We find a dependence of the first non-trivial Sonine coefficient, a2, on time through the value of temperature. In particular, we find a sudden drop of a2 when temperature approaches a characteristic value, T*, describing the electrostatic interaction. For lower values of T, the velocity distribution function becomes Maxwellian. The theoretical calculations agree well with numerical direct simulation Monte Carlo to validate our theory.

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