Basic Properties of Fine Particle (Dusty) Plasmas

Beginning with typical values of physical parameters, basic properties of the system of fine particles (dusts) in plasmas are summarized from the viewpoint of statistical physics. Mutual interactions and one-body shadow potential for fine particles are derived, and, by analytic treatments and numerical solutions of drift-diffusion equations, it is shown that one of their most important characteristics is the large enhancement of the charge neutrality in fine particle clouds. This observation leads to simple models for the structures of fine particle clouds under both microgravity and usual gravity. Due to large magnitudes of their charges and relatively low temperatures, fine particles are often in the state of strong coupling, and some interesting phenomena possibly expected in their system are discussed with concrete examples. Also reviewed is the shell model, a useful framework to obtain microscopic structures in strongly coupled Coulomb and Coulomb-like systems with specific geometry.