Spiral waves in driven strongly coupled Yukawa systems

TL;DR

This study demonstrates the excitation and evolution of spiral waves in driven two-dimensional dusty plasma systems modeled by Yukawa interactions, revealing how strong coupling and screening parameters influence their structure and propagation.

Contribution

It introduces molecular dynamics simulations to analyze spiral wave formation in driven Yukawa systems, highlighting effects of coupling strength and screening on wave morphology and speed.

Findings

Stronger coupling results in clearer spiral wave structures.

Propagation speed remains constant with coupling strength but varies with screening parameter.

Hexagonal spiral wavefronts appear in crystalline phase when screening parameter exceeds 0.58.

Abstract

Spiral wave formations are ubiquitous in nature. In the present paper, the excitation of spiral waves in the context of driven two-dimensional dusty plasma (Yukawa system) has been demonstrated at particle level using molecular dynamics simulations. The interaction amidst dust particles is modeled by Yukawa potential to take account of the shielding of dust charges by the lighter electron and ions species. Spatiotemporal evolution of these spiral waves has been characterized as a function of frequency and amplitude of the driving force, dust neutral collisions etc. The effect of strong coupling has been studied which show that the excited spiral wave structures get clearer as the medium gets more strongly coupled. The radial propagation speed of the spiral wave is observed to remain unaltered with the coupling parameter. However, it is found to depend on the screening parameter of the dust medium and decreases when it is increased. In the crystalline phase (with screening parameter \k{appa} > 0.58), spiral wavefront are shown to be hexagonal in shape. This shows that the radial propagation speed depends on the interparticle spacing.