Kinetics of plasma flowing around two stationary dust grains

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2003 Jan;67(1 Pt 2):016407. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.67.016407. Epub 2003 Jan 29.

Abstract

The characteristics of plasma particle kinetics in the presence of ions flowing around two stationary dust grains aligned in the direction of the flow are studied using a three-dimensional molecular dynamics simulation code. The dynamics of plasma electrons and ions as well as the charging process of the dust grain are simulated self-consistently. Distributions of electron and ion number densities, and the electrostatic plasma potential are obtained for various intergrain distances, including those much less, of the order of, and more than the plasma electron Debye length.