Analysis of pair correlation functions for macroscopic particles in dusty plasmas: Numerical simulation and experiment

Pair correlation is analyzed for systems of macroscopic particles with various isotropic interaction potentials. Under certain conditions, the behavior of the pair correlation function is determined by an effective order parameter and its decrease toward infinity follows an asymptotic power law. When the effective parameter is smaller than a certain critical value, the decay of pair correlation is much steeper. Experimental results concerning the form of the pair correlation function are presented for liquid-like dust structures localized in the near-electrode plasma sheath of a high-frequency capacitive discharge. An analysis of numerical and experimental results shows that melting dynamics in these systems are analogous to those characteristic of a topological phase transition.