The instability of the waves driven by a charged dust beam in the ionosphere

Abstract

By using the PIC simulation method and theoretical investigation from both the magnetohydrodynamic equations and the Vlasov equation of the dusty plasma produced by the relative streaming of the dust fluid and the background ionospheric plasma, we investigate the instability of the waves excited by this kind of the dust beam in the ionosphere. It is found that the waves are stable in both the electron and ion vibration time scales, while they are unstable in the dust grain vibration time scale. It is inferred that the wave is the high hybrid wave in the electron vibration time scale. The dispersion relations of the perturbed waves in both the electron vibration and ion vibration time scales are obtained. As the time increases until it arrives at the dust grain vibration time scale, the instability appears for the perturbed wave. Such instabilities may drive plasma irregularities that could affect radar backscatter from the clouds, when the wave satisfies the Bragg condition for backscatter. By using the dispersion relation of waves in both electron vibration and ion vibration time scales, we can infer what kind of radar backscatter can be possibly affected by the instability of the perturbed waves.