Three-dimensional simulation of dust charging and dusty plasma using SPIS

Abstract

This paper presents new observations of the behavior of simulated dust particles in space plasma based on a 3-D particle in cell code. Multistep Monte Carlo collision is employed to simulate the dust charging process, which is validated for the cases of charging of isolated dust particle and ensemble dust particles, where results indicate good agreement between simulation and theories. The code is then used to investigate plasma properties near a charged surface in a vicinity of a cloud of dust particles. The simulation reveals that a cloud of dust particle close to a spacecraft surface affects plasma densities around the spacecraft as well as the spacecraft's surface potential. It is suggested that dust cloud causes the surface to charge to higher negative potential. The simulation also suggests that the combination of surface potential and dust cloud potential produces a region of trapped low-energy electrons. Key Points A 3-dimensional dusty plasma simulation software has been developed Validations show good agreement with previous work Dust cloud affects surface potential ©2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.