Bulk and surface dominated phenomena and the formation of pentagonal structures in 2-D strongly coupled finite dust clusters

TL;DR

This study uses Molecular Dynamics simulations to analyze size-dependent phenomena in 2D dust clusters, revealing a transition from bulk to surface dominance and the formation of pentagonal core structures before additional rings develop.

Contribution

It systematically investigates the transition from bulk to surface dominance and the formation of pentagonal structures in 2D dust clusters under various conditions.

Findings

Pentagonal core structures precede additional ring formation.

Surface dominance increases as dust cluster size decreases.

Ring structures grow with increasing number of particles.

Abstract

This paper explores the prevalence of size-dependent aspects in the context of dust clusters with the help of Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations in two dimensions. The transition from macroscale (identified by the dominance of the number of dust particles in bulk) to microscale (where the number of particles on the surface dominates) is explored systematically. The dust particles organize in a multi-ringed structure under transverse confinement. The ring size and the number of rings increase with increasing number of dust particles. Interestingly, the formation of an additional ring is always preceded by structures with a pentagonal symmetry in the core. A detailed study of this formation has been investigated under various symmetries of the boundary condition and different values of the shielding potential.