IAU Colloquium 168
Cometary Nuclei in Space and Time

Nanjing, China
May 18-22, 1998

Electronically-submitted Abstracts of Participants


Disruption of Charged Dust Grains in Cometary Plasma Environments
Chen Yao, Li Zhongyuan, Shi Zhidong
(1) Department of Earth and Space Science, University of Science anad Technology of China, Anhui,Hefei,230026 P.R.C. (2) Advanced Center for Science and Astronomy, Third World Academy of Science.

The surface potentials on fluffy dust grains consisting of carbon and silicate materials in cometary plasma environments are calculated based on continuous charging model including collection, secondary emission on dust surface. The equilibrium potential and dust fragmentation criterion are given out for dust grains at different distance from comet P/Halley and P/G-Z. It is suggested that the electrostatic disruption is one of the possible causes for large amounts of tiny dust grains in coma.



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