The high dust density regime of dusty plasma: Theory and simulations

Abstract

It is shown that the dust density regimes in the dusty plasma are characterized by two complementary screening processes: (i) the low dust density regime where the Debye screening is the dominant process and (ii) the high dust density regime where the “Coulomb screening” is the dominant process. The Debye regime is characterized by a state where all dust particles carry an equal and constant charge. The high dust density regime or the “Coulomb plasma” regime is characterized by (a) “Coulomb screening” where the dust charge depends on the spatial location and is screened by other dust particles in the vicinity by charge reduction, (b) “asymptotic freedom” where dust particles, which on an average carry minimal electric charge, are asymptotically free in the high dust density limit, (c) uniform dust charge density and plasma potential, (d) dust charge neutralization by a uniform background of hot ions, and (e) dust is weakly coupled due to strong Coulomb screening. Thus, the dusty plasma is essentially a weakly coupled, one-component plasma with screening in the high dust density limit. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations verify these properties. The MD simulations are performed, using a recently proposed Hamiltonian formalism to study the dynamics of Yukawa particles carrying variable electric charge. A hydrodynamic model for describing the collective properties of Coulomb plasma and its characteristic acoustic mode called the “Coulomb acoustic mode” arising due to imperfect Coulomb screening is given.