Dusty And Self Gravitational Plasmas In Space

The diverse and often surprising new facts about planetary rings and comet environments that were reported by the interplanetary missions oflate 1970s - 1980s stimulated investigations of the so-called dusty plasma. The number of scientific papers on the subject that have been published since is quite impressive. Recently, a few surveys and special journal issues have appeared. Time has come to integrate some of the knowledge in a book. Apparently, this is the first monograph on dusty and self-gravitational plasmas. While the circle of pertinent problems is rather clearly defined, not all of them are equally represented here. The authors have concentrated on cooperative phenomena (Le. waves and instabilities) in the dusty plasma and the effects of self-gravitation. At the same time, in an attempt to present the vast material consistently, we have included such topics as electrostatics of the dusty plasma and gravitoelectrodynamics of individual charged particles. Also mentioned are astrophysical implications, mostly concerning planetary rings. We hope that the book shall be of interest and value both to specialists and those (astro )physicists who have just discovered this area of plasma physics. We are thankful to many scientists actively working in the field of dusty plasma physics who have generously let us become acquainted with their results, sometimes prior to publication of their own papers: U. de Angelis, N. D'Angelo, o. Havnes, A. Mendis, M. Rosenberg, P. Shukla, F. Verheest, and E. Wollman.

In this volume a thorough review is given of waves in dusty plasmas, a fascinating new domain combining plasmas and charged dust, two omnipresent ingredients of the Universe. Spokes and braids observed in the rings of Saturn cannot be explained by gravitation alone, but need the presence of charged dust. Other examples abound, as in zodiacal light, noctilucent clouds, comets and molecular clouds. After discussing charging mechanisms, supported by exciting new experiments, and space observations, the book describes extensions of known plasma modes covering the low frequencies typical for charged dust. Mixing detailed theoretical steps with summaries of expert contributions, a systematic multi-species treatment puts the literature in perspective, suitable also for newcomers. Typical complications like fluctuating dust charges, self-gravitational effects, and size distributions are dealt with, before ending with an outlook to future work and open questions. In this way, experts as well as interested newcomers will find a reliable guide, not just a compendium.

Dust is ubiquitous in the universe and responsible for stellar and planetary formation. Virtually all previous studies have considered the dust particulates to be a charge neutral component. Satellite missions such as Voyager revealed the extent to which charged dust plays a role in astrophysics. In most areas dust exists in the presence of a dilute plasma. In such a plasma environment the dust becomes charged to a variety of processes (eg photo-ionisation, collisions with electrons and ions, thermionic emission etc). Closer to home in the Earth's mesosphere, rocket measurements and radar observations conclusively demonstrate the importance of charged dust in forming complex structures responsible for Polar Mesospheric Summer Echoes. This book is the outcome of a periodic collaboration between a small group of scientists meeting twice a year at the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Bern, Switzerland over a period of three years. The book begins with a description of the fundamental physical processes which characterise dusty plasmas. Starting with charging and shielding of isolated dust particles in a plasma environment, the review progresses to non-linear dust dynamics of spherical and irregular dust. In an ensemble of a dust plasma system collective processes begin to manifest themselves in the form of new wave modes and instabilities which play an important role in the collective behaviour displayed in space and astrophysical environment. Finally more exotic topics, such as the Ising model for irregular dust grain alignment, classical Casimir forces and chargeons are explored.

The book discusses the principal theoretical methods and models used for strongly coupled plasmas in physics and astrophysics, engineering, and materials science. It includes experimental results of thermodynamical, transport, and optical properties, and modern methods of generation and diagnostics of strongly coupled plasmas.

IAU Transactions are published as a volume corresponding to each General Assembly. Volume A is produced prior to the Assembly and contains Reports on Astronomy, prepared by each Commission President. The intention is to summarize the astronomical results that have affected the work of the Commission since the production of the previous Reports up to a time which is about one year prior to the General Assembly. Volume B is produced after the Assembly and contains accounts of Commission Meetings which were held, together with other material. The reports included in the present volume range from outline summaries to lengthy compilations and references. Most reports are in English.

A comprehensive and readily accessible work for studying the physics of ionized gases, based on "Physics of Ionized Gases". The focus remains on fundamentals rather than on the details required for interesting but difficult applications, such as magnetic confinement fusion, or the phenomena that occur with extremely high-intensity short-pulse lasers. However, this new work benefits from much rearranging of the subject matter within each topic, resulting in a more coherent structure. There are also some significant additions, many of which relate to clusters, while other enlarged sections include plasmas in the atmosphere and their applications. In each case, the emphasis is on a clear and unified understanding of the basic physics that underlies all plasma phenomena. Thus, there are chapters on plasma behavior from the viewpoint of atomic and molecular physics, as well as on the macroscopic phenomena involved in physical kinetics of plasmas and the transport of radiation and of charged particles within plasmas. With this grounding in the fundamental physics of plasmas, the notoriously difficult subjects of nonlinear phenomena and of instabilities in plasmas can then be treated with comprehensive clarity. The work is rounded off with appendices containing information and data of great importance and relevance that are not easily found in other books. Valuable reading for graduate and PhD physics students, and a reference for researchers in low-temperature ionized gases-plasma processing, edge region fusion plasma physics, and atmospheric plasmas.

Dust-plasma interactions are of interest not only to space scientists and astrophysicists but lately also to technologists working in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. This book shows the wide scope of this new field, which is presently in a rapid state of development. It includes discussions not only of the physics and dynamics of charged dust in various plasma environments, but also of collective processes in dusty plasmas (new wave modes and instabilities), and the fascinating new development of the crystallization of dusty plasmas in the laboratory.