Studying the response of a Coulomb ball of charged dust particles to external pulsed loads

Abstract

The behavior of Coulomb balls of charged spherical dust particles under conditions of pulsed uniform loading of their outermost shells at various intensities has been studied by molecular dynamics modeling. If the intensity of the external load is below a certain threshold, the shell structure of the Coulomb ball is retained and the oscillations of outer shells are characterized by gradually decaying beats. As the intensity of the uniform loading increases, the shell structure exhibits smearing and, under the action of a threshold load, the system passes to a fluid-like state. The oscillation frequency of the outermost shell is independent of the intensity of uniform loading. Calculations show that, as the number of dust particles in a Coulomb ball increases, this frequency tends to a certain limiting value.