Dynamics of dust-free cavities behind fast projectiles in a dusty plasma under microgravity conditions

The penetration of a dusty plasma by fast charged projectiles is studied under microgravity conditions. The mass and charge of the projectiles are larger than those of the target particles. A projectile generates a dust-free cavity in its wake, whose shape strongly depends on the projectile velocity...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physics of plasmas 2011-07, Vol.18 (7), p.073702-073702-8
Main Authors: Caliebe, D., Arp, O., Piel, A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
CHARGED PARTICLES
DUSTS
HARMONIC OSCILLATORS
MASS
PLASMA
PULSES
VELOCITY
WEIGHTLESSNESS
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The penetration of a dusty plasma by fast charged projectiles is studied under microgravity conditions. The mass and charge of the projectiles are larger than those of the target particles. A projectile generates a dust-free cavity in its wake, whose shape strongly depends on the projectile velocity. The faster the projectile the more elongated becomes the cavity while its cross-section decreases. The opening time of the cavity is found independent of the projectile velocity. For supersonic projectiles, the dynamics of the cavity can be decomposed into an initial impulse and a subsequent elastic response that can be modeled by a damped harmonic oscillator.
ISSN:1070-664X
1089-7674
DOI:10.1063/1.3606468