Electrostatic interactions of two dielectric dust particles in the presence of plasma

Abstract

The dynamics of dusty plasmas control the creation and destruction of dust particles throughout the solar system. Dusty plasmas are found in the ring systems of the larger planets, in cometary nuclei and in the interstellar medium. To understand the collective phenomena of a dusty plasma it is important to understand the basics of the dynamics of a small number of dust grains embedded in a plasma. We build on previous work completed by Young et al. /1/ in modeling the charging characteristics of dust grains. We consider the case of two dust grains in a particle-in-cell (PIC) model with a variable separation and investigate the force relationship between the charged grains after equilibrium is reached. We demonstrate that the intergrain force is reduced by the shielding associated with the plasma.