Nonviscous motion of a slow particle in the dust crystal under microgravity conditions

TL;DR

This study investigates the subsonic, nonviscous motion of a large particle within a dust crystal in microgravity, combining experimental observations from space with a hydrodynamic theoretical model that aligns well with the data.

Contribution

It introduces a hydrodynamic theory for nonviscous dust particle motion around a large particle in a plasma crystal, validated by space-based experiments.

Findings

Large particle moves almost freely through the dust crystal

Dust particles follow characteristic alpha-shaped pathways

The hydrodynamic model agrees well with experimental data

Abstract

Subsonic motion of a large particle moving through the bulk of a dust crystal formed by negatively charged small particles is investigated using the PK-3 Plus laboratory onboard the International Space Station. Tracing the particle trajectories show that the large particle moves almost freely through the bulk of plasma crystal, while dust particles move along characteristic alpha-shaped pathways near the large particle. In the hydrodynamic approximation, we develop a theory of nonviscous dust particles motion about a large particle and calculate particle trajectories. A good agreement with experiment validates our approach.