Dynamical states in two-dimensional charged dust particle clusters in plasma medium

TL;DR

This paper uses Molecular Dynamics simulations to explore and characterize novel dynamical states, including inter-shell rotation and rigid body oscillations, in two-dimensional charged dust particle clusters within plasma media.

Contribution

It introduces new dynamical states in 2D dust clusters and provides detailed analysis of their formation based on particle number and plasma parameters.

Findings

Particles form stationary rings at specific numbers.

Clusters exhibit inter-shell rotation under certain conditions.

Large clusters show coherent rigid body oscillations.

Abstract

The formation of novel dynamical states for a collection of dust particles in two dimensions has been shown with the help of Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation. The charged dust particles interact with each other with Yukawa pair potential mimicking the screening due to plasma. Additionally, an external radial confining force has also been applied to the dust particles to keep them radially confined. When the particle number is low ( say a few), they get arranged on the radial location corresponding to multiple rings/shells. For specific numbers, such an arrangement of particles is stationary. However, for several cases, the cluster of dust particles relaxes to a state for which the dust particles on rings display inter-shell rotation. For a larger number of dust particles ( a few hundred for instance ) a novel equilibrium state with coherent rigid body displaying angular oscillation of the entire cluster is observed. A detailed characterization of the formation of these states in terms of particle number, coupling parameter, etc., has been provided.