title: Formation of a boundary-free dust cluster in a low-pressure gas-discharge plasma.
abstract: An attraction between negatively charged micron-sized plastic particles was observed in the bulk of a low-pressure gas-discharge plasma under microgravity conditions. This attraction had led to the formation of a boundary-free dust cluster, containing one big central particle with a radius of about 6 microm and about 30 1 microm-sized particles situated on a sphere with a radius of 190 microm and with the big particle in the center. The stability of this boundary-free dust cluster was possible due to its confinement by the plasma flux on the central dust particle.
authors.affiliation: Joint Institute for High Temperatures of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 125412, Russia. usachev@ihed.ras.ru
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Usachev
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Zobnin
authors.forename: O F
authors.initials: OF
authors.lastname: Petrov
authors.forename: V E
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Fortov
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Annaratone
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Thoma
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Höfner
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kretschmer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fink
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Morfill