Interaction in equilibrium plasmas of charged macroparticles located in nodes of cubic lattices

Abstract

Interaction of two charged pointlike macroparticles located at nodes of simple cubic (sc), body-centered cubic (bcc) and face-centered cubic (fcc) lattices in an equilibrium plasma is studied within the linearized Poisson-Boltzmann model. It is shown that the boundary shape has a strong influence on the electrostatic interaction between two macroparticles, which switches from repulsion at small interparticle distances to attraction as it approaches the halflength of a computational cell. It is found that in a case of dust particles arranged in the nodes of the sc, bcc and fcc lattices, the electrostatic force acting on them is equal to zero and the nature of the interaction changes from repulsion to attraction; hence, the infinite sc, bcc and fcc lattices of charged dust particles are thermodynamically stable at rather low temperatures.