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Simulations of a low frequency beam-cyclotron instability in a dusty plasma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2018

M. Rosenberg*
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
K. Quest
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
B. Kercher
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
*
Email address for correspondence: rosenber@ece.ucsd.edu
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Abstract

The nonlinear development of a low frequency beam-cyclotron instability in a collisional plasma composed of magnetized ions and electrons and unmagnetized, negatively charged dust is investigated using one-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Collisions of charged particles with neutrals are taken into account via a Langevin operator. The instability, which is driven by an ion $\boldsymbol{E}\times \boldsymbol{B}$drift, excites a quasi-discrete wavenumber spectrum of waves that propagate perpendicular to the magnetic field with frequency of the order of the dust plasma frequency. In the linear regime, the unstable wavelengths are of the order of the ion gyroradius. As the wave energy density increases, the dominant modes shift to longer wavelengths, suggesting a transition to a Hall-current-type instability. Parameters are considered that reflect the ordering of plasma and dust quantities in laboratory dusty plasmas with high magnetic field. Comparison with the nonlinear development of this beam cyclotron instability in a collisionless dusty plasma is also briefly discussed.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2018 
Figure 0

Table 1. ‘Nominal’ parameters.

Figure 1

Table 2. Dimensionless parameters.

Figure 2

Figure 1. Solution of the kinetic dispersion relation (2.1), for parameters in table 2. Real frequency for nominal parameters (blue solid curve) and reduced parameters (cyan dotted curve). Growth rate for nominal parameters (solid red curve) and reduced parameters (dotted magenta curve).

Figure 3

Figure 2. Solution of the kinetic dispersion relation (2.1), for reduced parameters in table 2, but with $T_{d}=20T_{i}$. Real frequency (cyan curve) and growth rate (magenta curve).

Figure 4

Figure 3. Average wave electric field energy density versus time for the collisional case simulation.

Figure 5

Figure 4. Temperature versus time for collisional case simulation: (a) ion temperature, (b) dust temperature.

Figure 6

Figure 5. Power in waves as a function of $k\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}_{i0}$, for collisional case, at time (a) $t\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}_{pi}=5500$ (b) $t\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}_{pi}=2\times 10^{4}$.

Figure 7

Figure 6. Phase space plots and spatial structure of the wave potential for two different times in the collisional case simulation: $t\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}_{pi}=7000$ (ac), and $t\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}_{pi}=22\,000$ (df). The ion phase space plots are shown in (a,d), the dust phase space plots in the middle row and the wave potential in (c,f). Note that $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}_{i}=4\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}_{Di}$ for the parameters used.

Figure 8

Figure 7. Average wave electric field energy density versus time for the collisionless case simulation.

Figure 9

Figure 8. Temperature versus time for collisionless case simulation: (a) ion temperature, (b) dust temperature.

Figure 10

Figure 9. Power in waves as a function of $k\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}_{i0}$, for collisionless case, at time (a)$t\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}_{pi}=800$ (b) $t\unicode[STIX]{x1D714}_{pi}=4000$.