Abstract
The effect of ion-neutral collisions on the potential of interaction between a pair of negatively charged grains in isotropic weakly collisional plasmas is investigated. Two interaction mechanisms are considered: Electric repulsion between like-charged grains and attraction due to the so-called “ion shadow” effect. It is demonstrated that in the presence of collisions, both interaction potentials exhibit Coulomb-like ∝r−1 decay at large distances. A necessary condition for the existence of long-range attraction is derived. The obtained results are then used to reconsider the possibility of liquid-vapor critical point occurrence in complex plasmas.
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