Related papers: Electrostatic Repulsion of Dust from Planetary Sur…
A multiple-image method is developed to accurately calculate the electrostatic interaction between neutral dielectric particles and a uniformly charged dielectric substrate. The difference in dielectric constants between the particle and…
A solid-state electro-aerodynamic propulsion system applies a high electric potential difference between two electrodes to ionize air within the resulting electric field, accelerating the ions to generate thrust. Previously, the so-called…
Dust impacts on spacecraft are commonly detected by antenna instruments as transient voltage perturbations. The signal waveform is generated by the interaction between the impact-generated plasma cloud and the elements of the…
Polarization of starlight and thermal dust emission caused by aligned dust grains is a valuable tool to characterize magnetic fields (B-fields) and constrain dust properties. However, the physics of grain alignment is not fully understood.…
Strong ionization on close-in extrasolar giant planets suggests that their atmospheres may be affected by ion drag and resistive heating arising from wind-driven electrodynamics. Recent models of ion drag on these planets, however, are…
Main sequence stars are commonly surrounded by debris disks, formed by cold far-IR-emitting dust that is thought to be continuously replenished by a reservoir of undetected dust-producing planetesimals. We have investigated the orbital…
We consider the lifecycle of dust introduced into the hot interstellar medium in isolated elliptical galaxies. Dust grains are ejected into galactic-scale cooling flows in large ellipticals by normal mass loss from evolving red giants.…
We propose a new heating mechanism in magnetar crusts. Magnetars' crustal magnetic fields are much stronger than their surface fields; therefore, magnetic pressure partially supports the crust against gravity. The crust loses magnetic…
The paper reports on the dynamics of a 3-dimensional dusty plasma in a strong magnetic field. An electrostatic potential well created by a conducting or non-conducting ring in the rf discharge confines the charged dust particles. In the…
The charging of conducting or alternatively insulating dust grains in a supersonic plasma flow with a directed photon flux is studied by the particle-in-cell method. The electron emission modifies the surface charge distribution on a grain…
Collisional growth of submicron-sized dust grains into macroscopic aggregates is the first step of planet formation in protoplanetary disks. These grains are expected to carry nonzero negative charges in the weakly ionized disks, but its…
I review my work with Bruce Draine on dust emissivity at microwave frequencies (3 cm - 3 mm). This emissivity explains the recently detected "anomalous" component of the galactic foreground emission. Both small (a<0.001 micron) and large…
Galaxy-scale outflows are of critical importance for galaxy formation and evolution. Dust grains are the main sites for the formation of molecules needed for star formation but are also important for the acceleration of outflows that can…
We propose a novel dust battery mechanism for generating seed magnetic fields in the early universe, in which charged dust grains are radiatively accelerated, inducing strong electric currents that subsequently generate magnetic fields. Our…
The illuminated dusty surface of Mars acts like a gas pump. It is driven by thermal creep at low pressure within the soil. In the top soil layer this gas flow has to be sustained by a pressure gradient. This is equivalent to a lifting force…
Intense electrostatic fields, such as those able to break bonds and cause field-ion emission, can fundamentally alter the behaviour of atoms at and on the surface. Using density functional theory (DFT) calculations on the Li (110) surface…
The problem concerning the form of the electrostatic field potential of the infinite charged metallic plane contacting with the metallic sphere is solved. The distributions of the surface charge densities both on the plane and the sphere…
We investigate the system constituted by a polarizable atom near a nanosphere under the influence of an external electrostatic field, showing that the attractive dispersive force between them can be overcome by the electrostatic…
Dust grains play a central role in the physics and chemistry of cosmic environments. They influence the optical and thermal properties of the medium due to their interaction with stellar radiation; provide surfaces for the chemical…
Within the RoadMap project we investigated the microphysical aspects of particle collisions during saltation on the Martian surface in laboratory experiments. Following the size distribution of ejected particles, their aerodynamic…