Journal of Physical Studies 11(2), 158–164 (2007)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30970/jps.11.158

MACROPARTICLE SCREENING IN A WEAKLY IONIZED PLASMA

A. G. Zagorodny^{1}, A. V. Filippov^{2}, A. F. Pal'^{2}, A. N. Starostin^{2}, A. I. Momot^{3}
^{1}{Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyiv, Ukraine}
^{2}{Troitsk Institute for Innovation and Fusion Research, Troitsk, Russia}
^{3}{Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University, Kyiv, Ukraine}

A new approach is proposed for the analytical description of effective grain potentials in dusty plasmas. The basic idea is to describe absorption of electrons and ions by the macroparticle in terms of effective point sinks introduced into the equations of plasma dynamics. The proposed approach makes it possible to find explicit relations for the potential and particle densities distributions near the grain. It is shown that plasma particle absorption results in the long-range asymptotics of the effective grain potentials. The dynamical screening of the moving dust particle is considered as well. The energy of the grain interaction with the induced charge produced by the grain and the force acting on the moving dust particle are calculated. The possibility of negative friction for the moving grain is shown.

PACS number(s): 52.27.Lw