Dust gravitational drift wave in complex plasma under gravity

The dispersion relation of electrostatic waves in a complex plasma under gravity is presented. It is assumed that the waves propagate parallel to the external fields. The effects of weak electric field, neutral drag force, and ion drag force are also taken into account. The dispersion relation is numerically examined in an appropriate parameter space in which the gravity plays the dominant role in the dynamics of microparticles. The numerical results show that, in the low pressure complex plasma under gravity, a low frequency drift wave can be developed in the long wavelength limit. The stability state of this wave is switched at a certain critical wavenumber in such a way that the damped mode is transformed into a growing one. Furthermore, the influence of the external fields on the dispersion properties is analyzed. It is shown that the wave instability is essentially due to the electrostatic streaming of plasma particles. It is also found that by increasing the electric field strength, the stability switching occurs at smaller wavenumbers. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.