Energy transfer between degrees of freedom of a dusty plasma system

Abstract

Dust particles under certain conditions can acquire kinetic energy of the order of 10 eV and higher, far above the temperature of gas and temperatures of ions and electrons in the discharge. Such heating can be explained by the energy transfer between degrees of freedom of a dusty plasma system. One of the mechanisms of such energy transfer is based on parametric resonance. A model of dust particles system in gas discharge plasma including fluctuations of dust particles charge and features of near-electrode layer is presented. Molecular dynamics simulation of the dust particles system is performed. Conditions of the resonance occurrence are obtained for a wide range of parameters.