Energy transport in a shear flow of particles in a two-dimensional dusty plasma

A shear flow of particles in a laser-driven two-dimensional (2D) dusty plasma is observed in a study of viscous heating and thermal conduction. Video imaging and particle tracking yields particle velocity data, which we convert into continuum data, presented as three spatial profiles: mean particle velocity (i.e., flow velocity), mean-square particle velocity, and mean-square fluctuations of particle velocity. These profiles and their derivatives allow a spatially resolved determination of each term in the energy and momentum continuity equations, which we use for two purposes. First, by balancing these terms so that their sum (i.e., residual) is minimized while varying viscosity eta and thermal conductivity kappa as free parameters, we simultaneously obtain values for eta and kappa in the same experiment. Second, by comparing the viscous heating and thermal conduction terms, we obtain a spatially resolved characterization of the viscous heating.