Related papers: Aggregation of Sub-mm Particles in Strong Electric…
Surfaces of planetary bodies can have strong electric fields, subjecting conductive grains to repulsive electrostatic forces. This has been proposed as mechanism to eject grains from the ground. To quantify this process, we study mm-sized…
The charging of dust grains in astrophysical environments has been investigated with the assumption these grains are homogeneous spheres. However, there is evidence which suggests many grains in astrophysical environments are…
Context. Particles in protoplanetary disks go through a number of phases that are dominated by collisions. In each of these events, grains exchange electrical charge via triboelectric effects. This enhances the stability of particle…
Recent research on the buildup of rocks from small dust grains has reaffirmed that grain growth in protoplanetary disks should occur quickly. Calculation of growth rates have been made for a variety of growth processes and generally predict…
In clouds of suspended particles (grains, droplets, spheres, crystals, etc.), collisions electrify the particles and the clouds, producing large electric potential differences over large scales. This is seen most spectacularly in the…
Aligned non-spherical dust particles polarize starlight passing through the dust cloud. They also emit polarized far infrared and sub-mm radiation. Substantial progress in understanding of grain alignment theory makes the interpretation of…
The interaction between dust grains is an important process in fields as diverse as planetesimal formation or the plasma processing of silicon wafers into computer chips. This interaction depends in large part on the material properties of…
The interaction between dust grains is an important process in fields as diverse as planetesimal formation or the plasma processing of silicon wafers into computer chips. This interaction depends in large part on the material properties of…
During the evolution of protoplanetary disks, dust grains start to grow, form larger particles, settle to the midplane, and rearrange the disk, mainly by the inward radial drift. Because of this, dust pebbles with an irregular shape usually…
The coagulation of cosmic dust grains is a fundamental process which takes place in astrophysical environments, such as presolar nebulae and circumstellar and protoplanetary disks. Cosmic dust grains can become charged through interaction…
The charge on an aggregate immersed in a plasma environment distributes itself over the aggregate's surface; this can be approximated theoretically by assuming a multipole distribution. The dipole-dipole (or higher order) charge…
In order to interpret observations influenced by dust and to perform detailed modeling of the observable characteristics of dust-producing or dust-containing objects, knowledge of the micro-physical properties of relevant dust species are…
In recent years, the tribocharging of colliding and bouncing submillimeter (submm) particles has been studied as a possible mechanism promoting the formation of large pebbles on centimeter (cm) to decimeter (dm) scales in protoplanetary…
We performed experimental studies of the effect of humidity on the dynamics of electrostatically-driven granular materials. Both conducting and dielectric particles undergo a phase transition from an immobile state (granular solid) to a…
Interstellar polarization at far-infrared through millimeter wavelengths (0.1 - 1 mm) is primarily due to thermal emission from dust grains aligned with magnetic fields. This mechanism has led to studies of magnetic fields in a variety of…
Aggregation of dust through sticking collisions is the first step of planet formation. Basic physical properties of the evolving dust aggregates strongly depend on the porosity of the aggregates, e.g. mechanical strength, thermal…
While the problem of grain alignment was posed more than 60 years ago the quantitative model of grain alignment that can account for the observed polarization arising from aligned grains has been formulated only recently. The quantitative…
Alignment of dust grains in astrophysical environments results in the polarization of starlight as well as the polarization of radiation emitted by dust. We demonstrate the advances in grain alignment theory allow the use of linear and…
We investigate the combined effect of solar wind, Poynting-Robertson drag, and the frozen-in interplanetary magnetic field on the motion of charged dust grains in our solar system. For this reason we derive a secular theory of motion by the…
The empirical observation of aggregation of dielectric particles under the influence of electrostatic forces lies at the origin of the theory of electricity. The growth of clusters formed of small grains underpins a range of phenomena from…