Simulation of dust streaming in toroidal traps: Stationary flows

Abstract

Molecular-dynamic simulations were performed to study dust motion in a toroidal trap under the influence of the ion drag force driven by a Hall motion of the ions in E × B direction, gravity, inter-particle forces, and friction with the neutral gas. This article is focused on the inhomogeneous stationary streaming motion. Depending on the strength of friction, the spontaneous formation of a stationary shock or a spatial bifurcation into a fast flow and a slow vortex flow is observed. In the quiescent streaming region, the particle flow features a shell structure which undergoes a structural phase transition along the flow direction.

Simulating the dynamics of complex plasmas

“…The plasma is usually taken into account analytically via the microparticle interaction potential [e.g., 43,18,[44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61]. A PIC analysis can determine the interaction potential more accurately and then serve as input for the MD simulation [e.g., 62,63].…”

Experiments and Simulations of Particle Flows in a Magnetized Dust Torus

“…However, a strongly-sheared dust flow is found in the lower region of the torus, where an obstacle in the flow is spontaneously formed [12], as can be seen in Fig. However, a strongly-sheared dust flow is found in the lower region of the torus, where an obstacle in the flow is spontaneously formed [12], as can be seen in Fig.…”

“…[12] values of Γ = (400-800) were found for the region of ϕ = 10 h-3 h. Such high values of Γ are established by gas friction, which rapidly cools the dust particles to room temperature. In Ref.…”

“…The geometry used for the Langevin MD-simulations [12] is similar to the experimental situation and the coordinates are defined in Fig. 2(a).…”

“…The dust is set into rotation by the Hall component of the ion flow across a magnetic field, which exerts an ion drag force on the dust particles. [11,12]. Above this threshold a stationary dust flow is established with a flow speed that is smaller on the rising side of the dust flow than on the descent.…”