title: Coagulation of charged microparticles in neutral gas and charge-induced gel transitions.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Interdisciplinary Plasma Science, Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, D-85741 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Ivlev
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Morfill
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Konopka