Resonant Energy Transfer Between Degrees of Freedom in a Dusty Plasma System

Dust particles under certain conditions can acquire kinetic energy of the order of 10 eV and higher, far above the temperature of gas and temperatures of ions and electrons in the discharge. Furthermore, significant difference of mean horizontal and vertical energy is observed. Such difference can be explained by the energy transfer between degrees of freedom of a dusty plasma system. The proposed mechanism of energy transfer between vertical and horizontal motion is based on parametric resonance. A system of equations describing dust particles' motion with account of dust particle charge fluctuations and features of the discharge near-electrode layer is formulated. Molecular dynamics simulations of dust particles' system are performed. Dependences of magnitude of transferred energy and horizontal energy growth rate on system parameters are obtained.