The effect of hot captured electrons on dust particle charge in a dusty plasma

Abstract

We consider the effect of allowing the capture of hot electrons by a dust particle in a dusty plasma by considering the temperature gradient created between these and the ambient plasma and by calculating the contribution to the electron current which results. A graph of the curve for the contribution from the temperature gradient to the electron current at the dust particle and the curve for the function without the temperature gradient included for a variety of values of the effective reduced potential of the dust particle shows a significant reduction in the charge on the dust particle when the temperature gradient is included. We present results for the percentage differences between the function with and without the temperature gradient included for a range of values of the reduced potential. These show that the effect of hot electrons can reduce the electron current contribution to the dust charge by up to 38% when the ion temperature is equal to the ambient electron temperature and that it can increase the electron current contribution to the dust charge by up to 33% when the ion temperature is a tenth of the ambient electron temperature.