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Charging and Growth of Fractal Dust Grains
The structure and evolution of aggregate grains formed within a plasma
environment are dependent upon the charge acquired by the micron-sized dust
grains during the coagulation process. The manner in which the charge is
arranged on developing irregular structures can affect the fractal dimension of
aggregates formed during collisions, which in turn influences the coagulation
rate and size evolution of the dust within the plasma cloud. This paper
presents preliminary models for the charge and size evolution of fractal
aggregates immersed in a plasma environment calculated using a modification to
the orbital-motion-limited (OML) theory. Primary electron and ion currents
incident on points on the aggregate surface are determined using a
line-of-sight (LOS) approximation: only those electron or ion trajectories
which are not blocked by another grain within the aggregate contribute to the
charging current. Using a self-consistent iterative approach, the equilibrium
charge and dipole moment are calculated for the dust aggregate. The charges are
then used to develop a heuristic charging scheme which can be implemented in
coagulation models. While most coagulation theories assume that it is difficult
for like-charged grains to coagulate, the OML_LOS approximation indicates that
the electric potentials of aggregate structures are often reduced enough to
allow significant coagulation to occur
Effects of the Charge-Dipole Interaction on the Coagulation of Fractal Aggregates
A numerical model with broad applications to complex (dusty) plasmas is
presented. The self-consistent N-body code allows simulation of the coagulation
of fractal aggregates, including the charge-dipole interaction of the clusters
due to the spatial arrangement of charge on the aggregate. It is shown that not
only does a population of oppositely charged particles increase the coagulation
rate, the inclusion of the charge-dipole interaction of the aggregates as well
as the electric dipole potential of the dust ensemble decreases the gelation
time by a factor of up to twenty. It is further shown that these interactions
can also stimulate the onset of gelation, or "runaway growth," even in a
population of particles charged to a monopotential where previously it was
believed that like-charged grains would inhibit coagulation. Gelation is
observed to occur due to the formation of high-mass aggregates with fractal
dimensions greater than two which act as seeds for runaway growth.Comment: 9 page
Structural Phases of Bounded Three-Dimensional Screened Coulomb Clusters (Finite Yukawa System)
The formation of three-dimensional (3D) dust clusters within a complex plasma
modeled as a spatially confined Yukawa system is simulated using the box_tree
code. Similar to unscreened Coulomb clusters, the occurrence of concentric
shells with characteristic occupation numbers was observed. Both the occupation
numbers and radii were found to depend on the Debye length. Ground and low
energy meta-stable states of the shielded 3D Coulomb clusters were determined
for 4<N<20. The structure and energy of the clusters in different states was
analyzed for various Debye lengths. Structural phase transitions, including
inter-shell structural phase transitions and intra-shell structural phase
transitions, were observed for varying Debye length and the critical value for
transitions calculated
Cosmic Dust Aggregation with Stochastic Charging
The coagulation of cosmic dust grains is a fundamental process which takes
place in astrophysical environments, such as presolar nebulae and circumstellar
and protoplanetary disks. Cosmic dust grains can become charged through
interaction with their plasma environment or other processes, and the resultant
electrostatic force between dust grains can strongly affect their coagulation
rate. Since ions and electrons are collected on the surface of the dust grain
at random time intervals, the electrical charge of a dust grain experiences
stochastic fluctuations. In this study, a set of stochastic differential
equations is developed to model these fluctuations over the surface of an
irregularly-shaped aggregate. Then, employing the data produced, the influence
of the charge fluctuations on the coagulation process and the physical
characteristics of the aggregates formed is examined. It is shown that dust
with small charges (due to the small size of the dust grains or a tenuous
plasma environment) are affected most strongly
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