Technical note: The enhancement limit of coagulation scavenging of small charged particles

We show that the limit of the enhancement of coagulation scavenging of charged particles is 2, that is, doubled compared to the neutral case. Because the particle survival probability decreases exponentially as the coagulation sink increases, everything else being equal, the doubling of the coagulation sink can amount to a dramatic drop in survival probability - squaring the survival probability, p(2), where p <= 1 is the survival probability in the neutral case. Thus, it is imperative to consider this counterbalancing effect when studying ion-induced new-particle formation and ion-enhanced new-particle growth in the atmosphere.

Automated summary

The study revealed that the limit of the enhancement of coagulation scavenging of charged particles is 2, which results in a dramatic drop in survival probability when the coagulation sink is doubled. Therefore, it is crucial to take this counterbalancing effect into consideration when studying ion-induced new-particle formation and ion-enhanced new-particle growth in the atmosphere.