Self-Assembling of Skeletal Structures from Magnetized Dust in Laboratory and Space: Numerical Modeling of Filaments-to-Skelton Transition

• Published in: 2007 IEEE 34th International Conference on Plasma Science (ICOPS) p. 929
• Main Author: Kukushkin, Alexander B.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.06.2007
• Subjects: Current; Electrodynamics; Extraterrestrial phenomena; Fractals; Laboratories; Numerical models; Plasma sheaths; Self-assembly; Skeleton; Structural rods
• ISBN: 9781424409150; 1424409152
• ISSN: 0730-9244; 2576-7208
• DOI: 10.1109/PPPS.2007.4346235

Summary form only given. In the frame of the model of skeletal matter composed of magnetized electrically conducting thin rods, the possible mechanisms of electrodynamic (magnetic and electric) aggregation of nanodust toward macroscopic fractal skeletal structures are found. These include demonstration of the possibility of self-assembling of (i) coaxial tubular skeletons from initially linear filaments of electric current, composed of static lengthy (i.e. ID) magnetic dipoles, which possess the longitudinal electric conductivity and the electric charge, screened with its own plasma sheath, and (ii) skeletal structures in the ensembles of similar filaments detached from the electrodes, in the presence of external electric currents. The above mechanisms of self-assembling illustrate the possibility of forming the long-range electrodynamic bonds in laboratory and space, in support to both the plasma- based hypotheses4 and the nanodust-based hypothesis (1998), and the respective phenomenon of self-similar skeletal structures, identified in the range 10 -5 cm - 10 23 cm in the data from various laboratory electric discharges (tokamaks, Z-pinches, plasma foci, laser plumes), severe weather phenomena (tornado, hailstones) and various objects in space. Here we analyze the most important stage of the probable process of skeleton's self-assembling, namely a transition from initially linear filaments of electric current, composed of blocks with the above-mentioned properties, towards a tubular skeletal structure. The special stress is made on demonstrating the mechanisms of self-reduction" of the spatial dimensionality of structuring in the initially 3D quasi- homogeneous ensembles of filaments, and the role of magnetic threading in skeleton's formation.