Coagulation of charged microparticles in neutral gas and charge-induced gel transitions.
Coagulation of charged particles was studied using the mean-field Smoluchowski equation. The coagulation equation was generalized for the case of a conserved system of charged particles. It was shown that runaway cluster growth (gelation) solutions exist if the charge-dipole (induced) interaction of clusters is included. When clusters are in thermal equilibrium with the ambient gas, the charge-dipole interaction dramatically enhances the aggregation process and considerably increases the likelihood of a gelation transition.
Ivlev
A V
AV
Centre for Interdisciplinary Plasma Science, Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, D-85741 Garching, Germany.
Morfill
G E
GE
Konopka
U
U