Dust plasma crystals, drops, and clouds

Abstract

The experimental and theoretical aspects of the dust particle phenomenon are discussed. The subjects include dust particle attraction in open systems ( in spite of charges of up to 105 e on individual particles); dust molecule formation; large (100 eV and higher) values of the dust-plasma crystal binding energy; self-contraction instabilities (similar to and operating together with gravitational instability in cosmic structures); free boundary dust-plasma crystals; new dust attraction mechanisms; the growth and agglomeration of dust particles; and the development of long order in dust plasmas. New estimates for understanding the fireball phenomenon and star production are given.