| Plasma systems occur in a variety of astrophysical and laboratory environments. Often these systems contain a dust component in addition to the plasma particles. Plasmas are generally regarded as a highly disordered state of matter and dust is often seen as a contaminant to the plasma. However, in “strongly coupled” dusty plasmas where the electrical potential energy between the dust particles is higher than the average kinetic energy of the particles, it is possible for the system to exist in a “liquid” or “crystalline” state.; The first such crystalline states were observed experimentally in 1994 and are not yet fully understood. The spacing between the particles is typically around 100 microns, allowing the individual particles to be visually observed and tracked.; Several computer models have suggested that the amount of ordering present in the system should depend only upon two dimensionless parameters: the ratio of the electrical energy to the kinetic energy and the ratio of the interparticle separation to the Debye length of the plasma. These models suggest that the method in which these two parameters are reached should have no impact upon the amount of order within the system. The results of computer modeling using a tree code known as Box_Tree, which, unlike most other computer simulations, includes all interparticle interactions, shows that the method by which these parameters are reached does have an affect on the final state of the system.; Box_Tree has also been used to study Mach cones caused by particles traveling through or near a dust crystal. In addition, preliminary results on the study of finite dusty plasma systems have been obtained. These results show that particles confined in a finite plasma oscillate with a frequency that depends upon particle mass and charge. |
