English

Phase transition of three-dimensional finite-sized charged dust clusters in a plasma environment

Plasma Physics 2023-05-30 v1 Statistical Mechanics

Abstract

The dynamics of a harmonically trapped three-dimensional Yukawa ball of charged dust particles immersed in plasma is investigated as function of external magnetic field and Coulomb coupling parameter using molecular dynamics simulation. It is shown that the harmonically trapped dust particles organize themselves into nested spherical shells. The particles start rotating in a coherent order as the magnetic field reaches a critical value corresponding to the coupling parameter of the system of dust particles. The magnetically controlled charged dust cluster of finite size undergoes a first-order phase transition from disordered to ordered phase. At sufficiently high coupling and strong magnetic field, the vibrational mode of this finite-sized charged dust cluster freezes, and the system retains only rotational motion.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2305.17902,
  title  = {Phase transition of three-dimensional finite-sized charged dust clusters in a plasma environment},
  author = {Hirakjyoti Sarma and Ritupan Sarmah and Nilakshi Das},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2305.17902},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

9 pages, 8 figures