title: Image charge effects on electron capture by dust grains in dusty plasmas.
abstract: Electron-capture processes by negatively charged dust grains from hydrogenic ions in dusty plasmas are investigated in accordance with the classical Bohr-Lindhard model. The attractive interaction between the electron in a hydrogenic ion and its own image charge inside the dust grain is included to obtain the total interaction energy between the electron and the dust grain. The electron-capture radius is determined by the total interaction energy and the kinetic energy of the released electron in the frame of the projectile dust grain. The classical straight-line trajectory approximation is applied to the motion of the ion in order to visualize the electron-capture cross section as a function of the impact parameter, kinetic energy of the projectile ion, and dust charge. It is found that the image charge inside the dust grain plays a significant role in the electron-capture process near the surface of the dust grain. The electron-capture cross section is found to be quite sensitive to the collision energy and dust charge.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, 0319, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093-0319, USA. ydjungphysics.ucsd.edu.
authors.forename: Y D
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tawara