Simulations of electrically polarized gravitational condensations in a grain plasma

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Abstract
The two long‐range forces in nature, gravitation and electromagnetism, are generally not jointly important in determining the dynamics of physical systems. There is, however, a case in which equilibrium large‐scale electrostatic and gravitational forces can be similar in magnitude. In a two‐component plasma, in which the massive species is a charged grain with charge‐to‐mass ratio of order (G)1/2, self‐gravitation and thermalization result in strong electrical polarization since the oppositely charged low‐mass component has a scale height much greater than that of the grains. Preliminary results of a computer simulation of this behavior are presented here. Properties of steady‐state gravitational condensations in grain plasmas have been studied with a one‐dimensional particle‐in‐cell code, and an investigation of the ratio of electrostatic to gravitational energy for various values of the grain charge‐to‐mass ratio has been performed. As expected, this ratio is maximized when the grain charge‐to‐mass ratio is approximately (G)1/2.

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