Hydrodynamic waves and correlation functions in dusty plasmas

Abstract

A hydrodynamic description of strongly coupled dusty plasmas is given when physical quantities vary slowly in space and time and the system can be assumed to be in local thermodynamic equilibrium. The linear waves in such a system are analyzed. In particular, a dispersion equation is derived for low-frequency dust acoustic waves, including collisional damping effects, and compared with experimental results. The linear response of the system is calculated from the fluctuation-dissipation theorem and the hydrodynamic equations. The requirement that these two calculations coincide constrains the particle correlation function for slowly varying perturbations. It is shown that in the presence of weakly damped, long-wavelength dust-acoustic waves, the dust autocorrelation function is of the Debye–Hückel form and the characteristic shielding distance is the dust Debye length.