Propagation characteristics of dust density waves in an external magnetic field

Abstract

Propagation of dust density waves (DDW) is theoretically investigated in a collisional plasma in the presence of an external magnetic field. The magnetic field is kept constant in a direction perpendicular to the direction of streaming ions, which is an important requirement for the self-excitation of these waves. Standard stability analysis is done to predict the conditions under which ion-drift instability may drive the DDW unstable. It is found that a minimum dust density is required to excite the wave. There exists a lower cut-off value of ion streaming velocity for the excitation of DDW which may change with the applied magnetic field and neutral gas pressure. The wave is found to behave complexly with the applied magnetic field and gets damped beyond a critical value. The results of this paper may be helpful in understanding the behavior of low-frequency dust modes as well as the background plasma both in laboratory and astrophysical environments.