The effect of the conducting electrode on the interaction of dust grains in a an ion flow is discussed. It is shown that two grains levitating above the electrode at the same height may attract one another. This results in the instability of a dust layer in a plasma sheath.
We consider a dusty plasma, in which the dust particles have a magnetic dipole moment. A Hall-MHD type of model, generalized to account for the intrinsic magnetization, is derived. The model is shown to be energy conserving, and the energy density and flux is derived. The general dispersion relation is then derived, and we show that kinetic Alfvén waves exhibit an instability for a low temperature and high density plasma. We discuss the implication of our results.
The charging of conducting or alternatively insulating dust grains in a supersonic plasma flow with a directed photon flux is studied by the particle-in-cell method. The electron emission modifies the surface charge distribution on a grain and in the surrounding plasma. The charge and potential distributions on and around a dust grain are studied for different photon fluxes and different angles of the incident unidirectional photons with respect to the plasma flow velocity vector. Continuous and pulsed radiations are considered. We show that photoemission allows controlling the charge on condu…
The impacts of dust density inhomogeneity and dust size distribution (DSD) on linear dust acoustic (DA) wave propagation have been investigated theoretically in an inhomogeneous unmagnetized dusty plasma having powerlaw DSD. Two different types of wave modes, viz. slow and fast mode, are found to propagate in this inhomogeneous medium. It is shown that the linear dispersion characteristics of the DA waves are substantially affected by the DSD and density inhomogeneity. Also, it is found that the phase velocity increases with increasing dust density.
Charging of dust grains in low-pressure plasmas is reviewed critically. A theory based on the Fokker-Planck equation and orbital motion limited approximation is proposed. The theory predicts that dust grains can acquire a positive charge in low-pressure electropositive plasmas having a sufficiently high plasma potential, in agreement with experimental observations. It is also shown that variations in the plasma potential (electron temperature) can lead to spatial regions in which grains have opposite charges.
The influence of an inhomogeneous screened electric field on the charging of dust grains in a thermal dusty plasma is studied. The electric field of charged grains is considered within the cell approach, where the problem is reduced to a one-particle one. Within the model of quasichemical equilibrium, which is generalized to the case of an inhomogeneous screened electric field, we obtain the value of mean charge of dust grains, the distribution function of grains over charges, and the variance of this distribution. We also give the criterion of an inhomogeneity of the electric field and show t…
We study the rotational and translational kinetics of massive particulates (dust grains) absorbing the ambient gas. Equations for microscopic phase densities are deduced resulting in the Fokker-Planck equation for the dust component. It is shown that although there is no stationary distribution, the translational and rotational temperatures of dust tend to certain values, which differ from the temperature of the ambient gas. The influence of the inner structure of grains on rotational kinetics is also discussed.
It is shown that the grain mass fluctuation, which is due to the grain sputtering by the attracted ions, may be at the root of a new instability in infinite, unmagnetized and homogeneous dusty plasmas. The growth rate is determined in the framework of two plasma models, viz., a cold and electron depleted plasma, and a plasma where electrons and ions are taken Boltzmannian. This instability may affect the Jeans as well as the agglomeration instabilities.
In this paper we consider the influence of dust charge fluctuations on damping of the dust-ion-acoustic waves. Fluid approximation of longitudinal electrostatic waves in unmagnetized plasmas is considered. We show that for a weak acoustic wave the attenuation depends on a phenomenological charging coefficient.
The role of hot electrons in charging of dust grains is investigated in a two-temperature hydrogen plasma. A variety of dust particles are introduced into the system and secondary electron emission (SEE) from each of the dust grains has been reported. A cylindrical Langmuir probe is used for determining the plasma parameters and a Faraday cup is connected to an electrometer in order to measure the dust current. The electrometer readings confirm the electron emission from the dust and SEE is observed from the tungsten dust in a low-pressure experimental plasma device for the first time.
We numerically investigate the dust charging in the sheath, by using the usual fluid approximation, it is extended to include self consistently the dust charge variation. The grain charge becomes a new self consistent dynamic variable, it is found that dust grains are first charged negatively at the sheath edge and then begin to be charged positively in the sheath. The numerical results show that the initial velocity of dust charged grains, sized grains and the density ratio of ion to electron at the sheath edge have affected the neutral point of dust charge. Moreover, the neutral point of dus…
We consider the influence of dust charge fluctuations on damping of the dust-ion-acoustic waves. It is assumed that all grains have equal masses but charges are not constant in time - they may fluctuate in time. The dust charges are not really independent of the variations in the plasma potentials. All modes will influence the charging mechanism, and feedback will lead to several new interesting and unexpected phenomena. The charging of the grains depends on local plasma characteristics. If the waves disturb these characteristic, then charging of the grains is affected and the grain charge is …
The weakly nonlinear regime of transverse paramagnetic dust grain oscillations in dusty (complex) plasma crystals is discussed. The nonlinearity, which is related to the sheath electric/magnetic field(s) and to the inter--grain (electrostatic/magnetic dipole) interactions, is shown to lead to the generation of phase harmonics and, in the case of propagating transverse dust-lattice modes, to the modulational instability of the carrier wave due to self--interaction. The stability profile depends explicitly on the form of the electric and magnetic fields in the plasma sheath. The long term evolut…
There is a quickly increasing wealth of experimental data on so-called dusty plasmas i. e. ionized gases or usual plasmas that contain micron sized charged particles. Interest in these structures is driven both by their importance in many astrophysical as well as commercial situations. Among them are linear and nonlinear wave phenomena. We consider the influence of dust charge fluctuations on stability of the ion-acoustic waves when the stream of particles is present. It is assumed that all grains of dust have equal masses but charges are not constant in time-they may fluctuate in time. The du…
Micron-sized dust grains have been successfully employed as non-perturbative probes to measure variations in plasma conditions on small spatial scales, such as those found in plasma sheaths. The dynamics of the grains can be used to map the forces due to electric fields present in the sheath, but the particle charge and electric field are difficult to measure independently. The problem is further complicated by the ion wake field which develops downstream of the dust grains in a flowing plasma. Within a sheath, ions are accelerated towards the charged boundary, and this ion flow creates a posi…
Energetic electrons from the inner radiation belt provide significant electric charging of the surfaces of Jupiter's moons Thebe and Amalthea whose orbits are located within this radiation belt. We estimate theoretically the electric fields in the vicinity of the polar regions of Thebe and Amalthea and argue that these fields are sufficient for lofting of micron and submicron-sized dust grains from the surfaces of the moons. Thus, the lofting of charged dust grains in the electric fields can be considered as an additional source supplying dust to the gossamer rings in addition to dust ejection…
The nature of long-range interactions between dust grains in plasma is discussed. The dust grain interaction potential within a cell model of dusty plasma is introduced. The attractive part of intergrain potential is described by multipole interaction between two electro-neutral cells. This allowed us to draw an analogy with molecular liquids where the attraction between molecules is determined by dispersion forces. The main ideas of the fluctuation theory for electrostatic field in a cell model are formulated, and the dominating contribution to the attractive part of intergrain potential is o…
We study the dynamics of large, charged dust grains in turbulent giant molecular clouds (GMCs). Massive dust grains behave as aerodynamic particles in primarily neutral dense gas, and thus are able to produce dramatic small-scale fluctuations in the dust-to-gas ratio. Hopkins & Lee (2016) directly simulated the dynamics of neutral dust grains in super-sonic MHD turbulence, typical of GMCs, and showed that the dust-to-gas fluctuations can exceed factor ~1000 on small scales, with important implications for star formation, stellar abundances, and dust behavior and growth. However, even in primar…