Collective Ion Drag Force

Аннотация

The forces acting on the ensemble of dust grains in a plasma flow are analyzed. It is shown that the nonreciprocal character of the forces results in the appearance of an ion drag force, which depends on the intergrain distance. Results of calculations for two grains and an unbounded hexagonal lattice are presented. Estimates show that the collective ion drag force under typical dusty plasma conditions can be comparable with the weight of an individual grain.