Rayleigh-Taylor instability driven nonlinear vortices in dusty plasmas

The low frequency stability of a dusty plasma with a nonuniform mass and charge distribution of the dust component is studied. It is shown that the inverse stratification of the dust mass density in a gravitational field may lead to a Rayleigh-Taylor-like instability. In the nonlinear regime this instability can produce an incompressible flow pattern of spontaneously rotating dust plasma fluid. This result can have potential applications in the interpretation of vortical patterns observed in laboratory experiments as well as in a variety of astrophysical situations where the generation and sustenance of angular momentum are important issues. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.