New aspects of the Jeans instability in dusty plasmas

Journal Article · Wed Oct 21 04:00:00 EDT 1998 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.56681· OSTI ID:21202197

Verheest, Frank ^[1]; Hellberg, Manfred A; Mace, Richard L ^[2]

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1. Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent, Krijgslaan 281, B-9000 Gent (Belgium)
2. Plasma Physics Research Institute, Department of Physics, University of Natal, Durban 4041 (South Africa)

In contrast to a gas, a dusty plasma can support a variety of wave modes each in principle able to impart to the dust grains the randomizing energy necessary to avoid Jeans collapse on some length scale. Consequently, the stability to Jeans collapse is more complex in a dusty plasma than it is for a charge-neutral gas. After recalling some of the fundamental ideas related to the ordinary Jeans instability in neutral gases, we will extend the discussion to plasmas containing charged dust grains. Besides the usual Jeans criterion based upon thermal agitation, various other ways of countering the gravitational collapse can be considered. One is via excitation of electrostatic dust-acoustic modes, the other via novel Alfven-Jeans instabilities for perpendicularly propagating electromagnetic waves on the extraordinary mode branch. The wavelengths that are unstable are modified due to the presence of a magnetic field and of charged particles. These mechanisms yield different minimum threshold length scales for the onset of instability/condensation.

• OSTI ID: 21202197
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 446; ISSN APCPCS; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
ALFVEN WAVES
CHARGED PARTICLES
DUSTS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELECTROSTATICS
EXCITATION
GRAVITATIONAL COLLAPSE
MAGNETIC FIELDS
PLASMA
PLASMA IMPURITIES
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PLASMA SIMULATION
SOUND WAVES
WAVE PROPAGATION