Collective Physics of Dusty Plasmas in Astronomy and Space

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Dusty plasmas occur in many space and astronomical environments, among them planetary atmospheres and rings, asteroid zones, comets, protostellar and protoplanetary clouds, supernova remnants, the interstellar medium, and the Earth's ionosphere/magnetosphere. The objective of this research is to conduct exploratory theoretical studies of the basic and applied collective physics of dusty plasmas which are pertinent to astrophysical and space environments. Exploratory pilot calculations of waves and instabilities in dusty plasmas will be performed, using a kinetic approach, which would include some of the unique properties of cosmic charged dust such as grain size distributions. The effects of charged dust grains on collective plasma properties will be examined for various astrophysical and space regimes, and exploratory studies of theoretical techniques to treat those effects will be conducted. This is a Career Advancement Award under the Research Opportunities for Women program.