Role of trapped and nonthermal electron distributions in dust charging currents
- Department of Physics, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka 1342 (Bangladesh)
The expressions for the dust charging current associated with plasma electrons, which follow either the trapped (vortexlike) distribution of Schamel [J. Plasma Phys. 13, 139 (1975)] or the nonthermal distribution of Cairns et al. [Geophys. Res. Lett. 22, 2709 (1995)], are derived. The effects of such trapped and nonthermal distributions of electrons on this dust charging current are then theoretically examined, and using current equations we derived dust grain charge. It is found that the dust charging currents are significantly modified by the population of the trapped and nonthermal electrons, and the dust grain charge is also modified. The implications of our results in the dust charging mechanism, which is the central point of the physics of dusty plasmas, are briefly discussed.
- OSTI ID:
- 21371273
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 16, Issue 12; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3270519; (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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