We consider grains with superparamagnetic inclusions and report two new condensed matter effects that can enhance the internal relaxation of the energy of a wobbling grain, namely, superparamagnetic Barnett relaxation, as well as, an increase of frequencies for which nuclear relaxation becomes important. This findings extends the range of grain sizes for which grains are thermally trapped, i.e....

The dynamics of lofted dust on airless bodies have been the subject much study since 1960s, when lunar horizon glow was first observed. Lofted important implications for evolution an body's surface properties. To date, most these studies had to rely assumptions initial conditions grains due a lack experimental results. In this paper, we present grains, making use obtained from recent laboratory...

[1] Triboelectric charging of saltating and colliding sand and dust particles produces strong electric fields in terrestrial dust devils and dust storms. Acceleration of the charged particles, as well as microdischarges between them, generates wideband electromagnetic radiation. Similar phenomena are expected to be ubiquitous on Mars, because Martian dust devils and dust storms are larger, stro...

Abstract. Electromagnetic streaming instabilities of multicomponent collisional magnetized accretion disks are studied. Sufficiently ionized regions of the disk are explored where there is strong collisional coupling of neutral atoms with both ions and dust grains simultaneously. The steady state is investigated in detail and the azimuthal and radial background velocities of species are calcula...

A detailed simulation of air showers produced by dust grains has been performed by means of the aires Monte Carlo code with the aim of comparing with experimental data. Our analysis indicates that extensive dust grain air showers must yet be regarded as highly speculative but they cannot be completely ruled out. PACS number(s): 98.70.Sa, 98.70.-f

Recent observations suggest that the abundance of carbon in the interstellar medium is only ∼ 60% of its solar value, and that other heavy elements may be depleted by a similar amount. Furthermore, more than half of the interstellar carbon is observed to be in the gas in the form of C, leaving less than ∼ 40% of the solar carbon abundance available for the dust phase. These observations have cr...

We performed Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph mapping observations covering nearly the entire extent of the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant (SNR), producing mid-infrared (5.5Y35 m) spectra every 500Y10 00. Gas lines of Ar, Ne, O, Si, S, and Fe, and dust continua were strong for most positions. We identify three distinct ejecta dust populations based on their continuum shapes. The dominant dust cont...

Narrow dust rings observed around some young stars (e.g., HR 4796A) need to be confined. We present a possible explanation for the formation and confinement of such rings in optically thin circumstellar disks, without invoking shepherding planets. If an enhancement of dust grains (e.g., due to a catastrophic collision) occurs somewhere in the disk, photoelectric emission from the grains can hea...

Coal mining and related industry can increase heavy metals (HMs) concentrations in soil, atmosphere and wheat, thereby posing metal-associated human health risk via food ingestion.  In this study, 58 samples of soil, wheat, and dust were collected from Xuzhou coal mine eastern China, six kinds of HMs Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, As and Cr were studied for their spatial distribution in wheat, enrichment in d...

The key parameter driving behavior of dust particles in plasma is their electric charge [1]. Present-day theories as well as experiments are not fully successful in determining its value [2]. Moreover, the theoretical uncertainties are increased in the plasma sheath – a think plasma layer at a wall or electrode. The standard models of dust charging in the plasma sheath usually suppose Maxwellia...