Soft mean spherical approximation for dusty plasma liquids: One-component Yukawa systems with plasma shielding.

The structure and thermodynamics of strongly coupled dusty plasmas are investigated with the soft mean spherical approximation. This integral theory approach is analytically solvable for Yukawa pair interactions yielding a closed-form solution for the direct correlation function. The pair correlation function, the structure factor, and basic thermodynamic quantities are calculated for a wide range of parameters. Exact consistency between the "energy"-"virial" thermodynamic routes and approximate consistency between the "energy"-"compressibility" paths is demonstrated. Comparison with extensive molecular dynamics results is carried out and a remarkable agreement from the Coulomb limit to the strongly screened limit is revealed. The soft mean spherical approximation is concluded to be particularly well suited for the study of dusty plasma liquids, uniquely combining simplicity and accuracy.

Spectra of ion density and potential fluctuations in weakly ionized plasmas in the presence of dust grains.

The spectral densities of ion density and electrostatic potential fluctuations are derived in the framework of a self-consistent kinetic model of partially ionized dusty plasmas in the low-frequency regime. Neutral gas density can be responsible for significant modifications of the fluctuation level, hence the inclusion of the effect of neutrals is essential for a more realistic comparison with experiments, especially if spectral measurements are intended for dust diagnostic purposes. Comparison with the multicomponent model, attractive due to its simplicity as compared to the self-consistent one, is carried out to establish its limits of validity. Numerical calculations are performed for parameters typical of low-temperature plasma discharges. A criterion is derived for the omission of plasma discreteness in the low-frequency regime.

Observation of the effects of dust particles on plasma fluctuation spectra.

Charged dust particles are theoretically expected to modify the amplitude and spectrum of plasma fluctuations, and this can eventually provide novel diagnostic tools. Direct experimental evidence of the effects of dust particles on the fluctuations of a low collisionality plasma is reported, in agreement with the expectations of kinetic theory.

Screening and attraction of dust particles in plasmas.

The potential around a dust particle in a plasma is found using the collisional hydrodynamic equations of dusty plasmas, taking into account ion-dust and ion-neutral collisions and considering the plasma source proportional to the dust density. The linear screening is strongly influenced by the collisions and can substantially differ from Debye screening. Attraction of negatively charged dust particles can occur due to overscreening by the ion fluxes in the presence of friction forces.

Resonant scattering of ions on charged dust particles.

Resonant scattering ("scattering through waves") of ions on dust particles in plasmas is considered in the framework of the kinetic theory which consistently takes into account ion-dust collisions and dust charge fluctuations. Resonance with low frequency dusty plasma modes can enhance the ion-dust scattering cross section and the ion drag force on dust particles.

Kinetics of ensembles with variable charges.

Kinetics of particle ensembles with variable charges is investigated. It is shown that the energy of such ensembles is not conserved in the interparticle collisions. The case when the equilibrium charge depends on the particle coordinate is studied, and the collision integral describing the momentum and energy transfer in collisions is derived. Solution of the resulting kinetic equation shows that the system is unstable--the mean thermal energy exhibits explosion-like growth, diverging at a finite time.