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Using the kinetic approach, we study the impact of the charged particle dynamics due to the Schwinger effect on the electric field evolution during inflation. As a simple model of the electric field generation, we consider the kinetic coupling of the electromagnetic field to the inflaton via the term f 2 (φ)Fµν F µν with the Ratra coupling function f = exp(βφ/Mp). The production of charged particles is taken into account in the Boltzmann kinetic equation through the Schwinger source term. Produced particles are thermalized due to collisions which we model by using the collision integral in the self-consistent relaxation time approximation. We found that the current of created particles exhibits a non-Markovian character and cannot be described by a simple Ohm's law relation j ∝ E. On the contrary, the electric current as well as the electric field are oscillatory functions of time with decreasing amplitudes and a phase difference due to the ballistic motion of charged carriers. Our qualitative results are checked by using a hydrodynamic approach. Deriving a closed system of equations for the number, current, and energy densities of charged particles and determining its solution, we find a good agreement with the results obtained in the kinetic approach.

The results of numerical studies of the interaction forces between two finite-size charged spherical conductive particles embedded into weakly ionized strongly collisional isothermal plasma-like medium are presented. The studies are performed for the case of particles with fixed electric charge under the assumption that particles do not absorb electrons and ions from the surrounding plasma (colloidal particles) as well as for particles charged by plasma currents (grains). In the first case the Poisson-Boltzmann model was used and in the second the dynamics of grain charging is described in the drift-diffusion approximation. It is shown that at the large distances the interaction force between colloidal particles has the Debye screened asymptotic while for the grains the Coulomb-like behavior is observed. The dependence of the grain charge collected due to the plasma particle absorption on the distance between two grains is studied. The possibility of introducing effective Coulomb description of finite-size grain interaction in weakly ionized strongly collisional plasma is discussed.

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