Radiation pressure cross section for fluffy aggregates

Abstract

—We apply the discrete dipole approximation (DDA) to estimate the radiation pressure cross section for fluffy aggregates by computing the asymmetry parameter and the cross sections for extinction and scattering. The ballistic particle–cluster aggregate and the ballistic cluster–cluster aggregate consisting of either dielectric or absorbing material are considered to represent naturally existing aggregates. We show that the asymmetry parameter perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation is maximized where the wavelength is comparable to the aggregate size, which may be characterized by the area-equivalent radius or the radius of gyration rather than the volume-equivalent radius. The asymmetry parameter for the aggregate depends on the morphology of the particle, but not on the constituent material. Therefore, the dependence of the radiation pressure cross section on the material composition arises mainly from that of the extinction and scattering cross sections, in other words, the single-scattering albedo. We find that aggregates consisting of high-albedo material show a large deviation of radiation pressure from the direction of incident radiation. When the aggregates are illuminated by blackbody radiation, the deviation of the radiation pressure increases with increasing temperature of the blackbody. Since the parallel component of the radiation pressure cross section for the aggregates is smaller than that for the volume-equivalent spheres at the size parameter close to unity, the Planck-mean radiation pressure cross section for the aggregates having radius comparable to the effective wavelength of radiation shows a lower value, compared with the volume-equivalent sphere. Consequently, the slope of the radiation pressure force per mass of the particle as a function of particle mass shows a lower maximum for the aggregates than for compact spherical particles.