THE CROSS-FIELD ACCELERATION OF CHARGED DUST GRAINS BY THE PONDEROMOTIVE FORCE OF COMPRESSIONAL WAVES IN DUSTY PLASMAS

摘要

In this Letter, it is shown that the ponderomotive force of the compressional Alfven-Rao (CAR) mode in a magnetized plasma can create space charge electric fields that accelerate charged dust grains across the external magnetic field direction. It is found that the cross-field dust grain acceleration is proportional to the gradient of the CAR mode magnetic field intensity. This result is of relevance for our understanding of the origin of high-energy dust in the interstellar medium.