Numerical simulations of a dust grain in a flowing magnetized plasma

The effect of an external magnetic field on the formation of the wake in the potential distribution behind a dust grain is studied with self-consistent Particle-In-Cell numerical simulations. The collisionless plasma flow is aligned with the magnetic field. It is demonstrated that the topology of the wakefield is significantly affected by the magnetization degree of plasma and by the ion flow speed. The external magnetic field acts to reduce the potential enhancements in the wake and leads to splitting of the wake pattern across the symmetry axis. For high ion flow speeds, a strong magnetization of plasma suppresses the potential enhancements and results in a narrow negative potential line along the symmetry axis, parallel to the ion flow direction, in the wake. Published under license by AIP Publishing.