Dust particle charging and formation of dust structures in the upper atmosphere

We investigate the dust particle charging process in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Calculating the spectra of solar radiation, we study the influence of the photoelectric effect on the charging process. We show that both positively and negatively charged dust particles are present in the upper atmosphere. We consider the mechanisms which can be responsible for the formation of dust structures like noctilucent clouds and polar mesosphere summer echoes.     

Formation of structures in a dusty ionosphere

An analysis of the evolution of microscopic particles (dust grains) in the Earth’s ionosphere and their effect on ionization in the middle atmosphere is presented. It is shown that summer conditions in the polar ionosphere, which are characterized by an ambient air temperature below 150 K and presence of supersaturated water vapor, facilitate the formation of dust structures in the middle atmosphere, such as noctilucent clouds and polar mesospheric summer echoes. The ionospheric plasma composition can change significantly in the regions occupied by these structures. Depending on photoelectric properties of the grains, their presence may lead to excess, or decrease in, electron concentration and complex behavior of ion concentration. The proposed self-consistent model of the ionosphere allows for grain growth, sedimentation, and charging and can be used to explain the behavior of ionization under summer conditions in the polar ionosphere.     

基于尘埃等离子体理论的极区中层分层结构研究

根据尘埃等离子体理论,考虑到尘埃粒子的充放电过程,研究了尘埃冰晶粒子吞噬效应对极区中层电子浓度分层结构及电导率和介电常数的影响。结果表明,尘埃冰晶粒子的吞噬效应造成了极区中层80~90km 高度范围内电子浓度的分层结构,并进而导致这一区域尘埃等离子体电导率、介电常数沿高度出现明显的分层,为解释和研究极区中层夏季回波现象提供参考。     

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根据尘埃等离子体理论,考虑到尘埃粒子的充放电过程,研究了尘埃冰晶粒子吞噬效应对极区中层电子浓度分层结构及电导率和介电常数的影响。结果表明,尘埃冰晶粒子的吞噬效应造成了极区中层80~90km高度范围内电子浓度的分层结构,并进而导致这一区域尘埃等离子体电导率、介电常数沿高度出现明显的分层,为解释和研究极区中层夏季回波现象提供参考。     

Dust in the planetary system: Dust interactions in space plasmas of the solar system

Cosmic dust particles are small solid objects observed in the solar planetary system and in many astronomical objects like the surrounding of stars, the interstellar and even the intergalactic medium. In the solar system the dust is best observed and most often found within the region of the orbits of terrestrial planets where the dust interactions and dynamics are observed directly from spacecraft. Dust is observed in space near Earth and also enters the atmosphere of the Earth where it takes part in physical and chemical processes. Hence space offers a laboratory to study dust–plasma interactions and dust dynamics. A recent example is the observation of nanodust of sizes smaller than 10 nm. We outline the theoretical considerations on which our knowledge of dust electric charges in space plasmas are founded. We discuss the dynamics of the dust particles and show how the small charged particles are accelerated by the solar wind that carries a magnetic field. Finally, as examples for the space observation of cosmic dust interactions, we describe the first detection of fast nanodust in the solar wind near Earth orbit and the first bi-static observations of PMSE, the radar echoes that are observed in the Earth ionosphere in the presence of charged dust.     

Features of dusty structures in the upper Earth’s atmosphere

The features of the Earth’s dusty ionosphere are considered using as an example the summer polar mesosphere. The effect of the optical properties of microparticles on their heating and photoelectron emission under the action of solar radiation is analyzed in detail. Certain photochemical consequences of the presence of dust in the upper atmosphere are studied. In particular, it is shown that microparticles can noticeably reduce the concentration of water vapor in the upper atmosphere and this decrease in turn limits the particle sizes. The influence of the effect under consideration on the behavior of the charged component of the upper atmosphere is discussed.     

Formation and evolution of dusty plasma structures in the ionosphere

A self-consistent model of the formation and evolution of dusty plasma structures in the ionosphere has been developed. The effect of the initial distributions of dust particles, as well as condensation and absorption of water molecules by dust particles, on the formation of noctilucent clouds and polar mesosphere summer echoes has been demonstrated. The possibility of the formation of a layered structure of noctilucent clouds has been illustrated.     

Wake potential with mobile positive/negative ions in multicomponent dusty plasmas

We employ the test charge approach to calculate the electrostatic potential for a test charge in a multicomponent dusty plasma, whose constituents are the Boltzmann distributed electrons, mobile positive and negative ions, and immobile positive/negative charged dust particles. By using the modified dielectric constant of the dust-ion-acoustic (DIA) waves, the Debye screening and wake potentials are obtained. It is found that the presence of mobile negative ions significantly modify the DIA speed and the wake potential. The present results are relevant to polar mesosphere and microelectronic in the context of charged particle attraction and repulsion.     

On the role of dust in the cometary plasma

The cometary coma consists of neutral gas, plasma, and dust grains. The dust grains can influence both the neutral and charged coma’s constituents. Usually, the presence of dust particles in a plasma results in additional losses of both electrons and ions due to the plasma recombination on the particle surfaces. Solar radiation makes the impact of dust even more complicated depending on the solar flux, the dust number density, the photoelectric properties of the dust particles, the dust particle composition, the distribution of the sizes, etc. We propose a simple kinetic model evaluating the role of dust particles in the coma plasma chemistry and demonstrate that this role can be crucial, resulting in a nontrivial behavior of both the electron and ion densities of the plasma. We show that a coma’s dust particles can be negatively as well as positively charged depending on their composition. These opposite charges of the grains can result in fast coagulation of dust particles, thus, forming complex aggregate shapes of cometary grains. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Distribution of charged lunar dust in the south polar region of the moon

Lunar dust is one of the most threatening problems confronting the return of human beings to the moon. In this work we studied the spatial distribution behavior of charged lunar dust in the solar wind plasma environment in the south polar region of the moon and considered the influence of a mini-crater using Spacecraft Plasma Interactions Software. The distribution of dust and plasma at low solar altitude angles of 20° and 0° was studied, and the spatial density of lunar dust was ~10^10.4 m^-3 and ~10^11.5 m^-3, respectively. This is because a higher surface potential will result in transportation of small dust particles and photoelectrons can also neutralize positively charged lunar dust. The dust density in the plasma void region created by a mini-crater with a 5 m high wall was studied. We obtained a quasi-neutral electric environment in the plasma void region of the mini-crater, and the dust density was about a magnitude lower than that in other regions. The dust risk to a spacesuit is much lower on the nightside than on the dayside, but there is severe charged lunar dust transport in the region between light and shade, which is dominated by the difference in surface and plasma potential caused by photoelectrons.     

Seasonal behavior of middle-latitude short-wave mesospheric radio echoes

Using the radar of the “Sura” facility, we studied the diurnal and seasonal behavior of mesospheric middle-latitude short-wave radio echoes. It was, found that the diurnal dependence of the intensity of reflected signals is mainly determined by the solar illumination of the mesosphere, i.e., by photoionization intensity. We revealed an almost permanent and season-independent presence of a thin turbulent layer at altitudes of 82 to 84 km whose radio echoes are maximal in summer and winter and much weaker in spring and fall. Sporadic summer radio echoes with increased intensity, which are observed at somewhat greater (by 2 to 4 km) altitudes, apparently correspond to the phenomenon of mesospheric summer echo (MSE) observed in the VHF range. The material of the article has been reported at the IIIrd International School on Space Plasma Physics. Radiophysical Research Institute, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebmykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 41, No. 10, pp. 1248–1257, October 1998.     

Nonlinear ion-acoustic waves in magnetized plasmas in presence of energetic electrons and positively charged dust

A theoretical investigation has been carried out for exploring different features of ion-acoustic solitary and shock waves in a three-component magnetized plasma containing a mixture of thermal and nonthermal (energetic) inertialess electrons, warm inertial ions, and positively charged stationary dust particles. The standard Korteweg-de Vries (Burgers) equation has been derived by employing the reductive perturbation method, and its solitary (shock) wave solution has been derived and examined analytically as well as numerically. The latter exhibits characteristic properties (amplitude, width, speed, and polarity) of the ion-acoustic solitary and shock waves. It has been shown that the ion-acoustic solitary and shock waves are significantly modified by different plasma parameters (viz. parameter measuring the ratio of dust charge density to ion charge density, parameter measuring the fraction of energetic electrons, parameter measuring ion or electron temperature, and the external magnetic field). The present investigation may help in understanding the physics of various nonlinear phenomena formed in many space plasma systems, (viz. earth's mesosphere, solar wind, and cometary tails) and laboratory devices (laboratory experiments of Samarian et al., Phys. rev. E. 64 , 056407 [2001] and of Fortov et al., New J. Physics 5 , 102 [2003]).     

极区夏季中层顶区域尘埃粒子参数的研究

采用轨道受限运动方法研究了极区夏季中层顶区域的尘埃粒子电荷数与尘埃粒子半径。利用尘埃等离子体充电理论,建立了尘埃粒子充电方程模型,得到尘埃粒子充电时尘埃电荷数和半径的比值。然后结合ECT02实验数据,分析了发生极区中层夏季回波现象时极区中层顶区域尘埃粒子电荷数和半径的比值,并得到尘埃粒子的半径以及尘埃粒子所带电荷量。结果表明,极区中层顶区域的尘埃粒子平均所带电荷不到一个,它的半径约为20nm。     

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采用轨道受限运动方法研究了极区夏季中层顶区域的尘埃粒子电荷数与尘埃粒子半径。利用尘埃等离子体充电理论,建立了尘埃粒子充电方程模型,得到尘埃粒子充电时尘埃电荷数和半径的比值。然后结合ECT02实验数据,分析了发生极区中层夏季回波现象时极区中层顶区域尘埃粒子电荷数和半径的比值,并得到尘埃粒子的半径以及尘埃粒子所带电荷量。结果表明,极区中层顶区域的尘埃粒子平均所带电荷不到一个,它的半径约为20nm。     

Formation of dust-acoustic shock waves in a strongly coupled cryogenic dusty plasma

The nonlinear propagation of ultra-low-frequency dust-acoustic (DA) waves in a strongly coupled cryogenic dusty plasma has been investigated, by using the Boltzmann distributed electrons and ions, as well as modified hydrodynamic equations for strongly coupled charged dust grains. The reductive perturbation technique is used to derive the Burger equation. It is shown that strong correlations among negatively charged dust particles acts like a dissipation, which is responsible for the formation of the DA shock waves. The latter are associated with the negative potential, i.e. with the compression of negatively charged cryogenic dust particle density. It is also found that the effective dust-temperature, which arises from electrostatic interactions among negatively charged dust particles, significantly affects the height of the DA shock structures. New laboratory experiments at cryogenic temperature should be conducted to verify our theoretical prediction.     

Parametric Study of Nonplanar Dust Acoustic Solitons in Two‐Dimensional Superthermal Dusty Plasmas

The nonlinear properties of two dimensional low‐frequency electrostatic excitations of charged dust particles (or defects) are studied in a collisionless, unmagnetized dusty plasma. A fully ionized three‐component model plasma consisting of kappa distributed electrons, Maxwellian ions, and negatively charged massive dust grains is considered. In this regard, the well known reductive perturbation technique is used to the hydrodynamical equations and the Poisson equation, obtaining the cylindrical Kadomtsev–Petviashvili (CKP) equation. A parametric investigation indicates that the structural characteristics of these nonlinear excitations (width, amplitude) are significantly affected by the plasma nonthermality as well as by the relevant plasma parameters, such as dust concentration and dust temperature. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A dust plasma

A dust plasma was created using spores in a glass discharge tube. The dust particles become negatively charged, levitate in the positive plasma potential, and behave like massive electrons. A laser beam is used to make the dust visible, revealing plasma structure, such as the wall sheath and the direction of the local electric field     

Nonlinear interaction phenomenon of dust acoustic solitary and shock waves in dusty plasma

The effects of head-on collision on dust acoustic (DA) solitary and shock waves in dusty plasma are investigated considering positively charged inertial dust, Boltzmann distributed negatively charged heavy ions, positively charged light ions, and superthermal electrons in the plasma system. The nonlinear Korteweg-de-Vries (KdV) Burger equations are derived taking the extended Poincaré-Lighthill-Kuo method into account to study the characteristic properties of nonlinearity and production of solitary shock due to collisions. The study reveals that the amplitudes and widths of the DA shock waves are decreasing with increasing viscosity, electron to dust density ratio, and dust to ion temperature ratio, while they are increasing due to the presence of superthermal electrons. The nonlinearity of DA waves are enhanced with increasing density ratio of electron to dust and temperature ratio of dust to ion and electron, respectively, but it is reducing with superthermal electrons. The phase shifts of DA solitary waves are found to decrease with rising superthermality of electrons and increase with the density ratio of electron to dust.     

Atmospheric Turbulence and Internal Gravity Waves Examined by the Method of Artificial Periodic Irregularities

A method for studying the Earth’s ionosphere at altitudes of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere based on creating artificial periodic irregularities in the ionospheric plasma by means of powerful radio waves is breafly described. Methods for determining the temperature and density of the neutral component and the velocity of vertical and turbulent motions by measuring the characteristics of the signal backscattered by the irregularities are described. The results of experiments performed on a SURA heating facility aimed at a comprehensive investigation of the natural processes occurring in the Earth’s lower ionosphere due to the propagation of atmospheric waves and turbulent phenomena are examined. Based on measurements of the amplitude and phase of the signal scattered by periodic irregularities, the most important characteristics of the neutral and plasma components of the Earth’s atmosphere at altitudes of the mesosphere and lower thermosphere are determined. Further research on the subject is discussed.     

Metastable states of dust plasma

The free energy of three-component dust plasma has been calculated analytically based on the spherical model of an elementary electroneutral volume. It has been shown that metastable states of dust particles, ions, and simultaneously all plasma particles can exist for finite interparticle distances. These states can be attained due to spatial correlation of electrons, while some states can be attained due to the correlation of ions. A large charge of dust particles, high electron temperature, and a small fraction of the charge of the electrons compared to the total absolute charge of the plasma particles are important conditions for the existence of metastable states. A possible connection between the existence of metastable states of particles in the plasma and their agglomeration has been analyzed.