Kinetics of Complex Plasmas Having Dust of Different Materials With Corresponding Size Distribution

Abstract

In this paper, the authors have presented a formulation of the kinetics of complex plasmas, having dust of different materials (different work functions) and size distributions, which is based on the number and energy balance of constituents; this is in deference to the present emphasis on considering complex plasma as an open system. The formulation is based on a size-independent dust surface potential; this simplifies the problem to a form, similar to that for the case of uniform size dust grains, characterized by the mean <formula formulatype="inline" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex Notation="TeX">$(a_{m})$</tex></formula> and the root mean square <formula formulatype="inline" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex Notation="TeX">$(a_{rms})$</tex></formula> radius of the dust particles. Two cases, viz., complex plasma in thermal equilibrium and complex plasma irradiated by monochromatic radiation, have been considered in detail, and corresponding computations have been made for a mixture of two varieties of dust grains having high <formula formulatype="inline" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex Notation="TeX">$(\varphi_{2} &gt; h\nu)$</tex></formula> and low <formula formulatype="inline" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex Notation="TeX">$(h\nu &gt; \varphi_{1})$</tex></formula> work functions. The relevance of the first case to flames and rocket exhausts has been pointed out. The fluctuation of charge corresponding to individual dust grains has also been evaluated. A discussion based on numerical results and conclusion have been also given.