One-dimensional Self-organised Structures in Dusty Plasmas

Abstract

A dusty plasma is an open system in which the formation of structures is a natural phenomenon. The first part of the present review is devoted to an introduction to dusty plasma physics and a formulation of the new theoretical kinetic and new hydrodynamic approaches used in subsequent parts. In the new hydrodynamic approach only dust–plasma particle collisions are taken into account and the usual binary plasma collisions are neglected. This description takes into account the possibility of plasma absorption on dust particles and is appropriate for open systems. The second part of the review contains a description of one-dimensional plasma–dust self-organised structures where the energy source corresponds to the plasma fluxes towards the dust regions from the plasma regions where the dust is absent. The fluxes are created by the structures in a self-consistent manner to increase the ion density and decrease the electron density, drift velocity and electrostatic potential inside the structure. The third part contains the theory of shock waves in dusty plasmas, modification of the Gugoniot relation and analyses of the possibility of an increase of dust density behind the shock front. All parts are based on the modern point of view of the physics of dusty plasmas and mainly new material is presented. The review is written in the form of lectures and therefore the references to the existing literature are given in the text, with more details in the last section devoted to some historical comment. The references to general reviews are given separately as [A]-[D].