An Experimental Investigation of Rubble Pile Charging In A Vacuum Environment

Dust particle charging occurs naturally across a diverse set of physics ranging from protoplanetary disk agglomeration to dust interactions on the lunar surface. As such, the underlying physics for charging individual dust particles and dust agglomerates must be clearly understood. Much of the time, this is most easily accomplished by the study of monomer piles [1]. The structure of monomer piles is relevant in various astrophysical contexts, such as studying the fine-grained rims observed around chondrules and dust interactions on airless bodies. These dynamics are important to such diverse physics issues as maintaining a human presence on the lunar surface for extended periods or understanding how the solar system formed. Dust particle charging can occur due to partially ionized environments, secondary photoelectron emission from solar radiation, or collisional charging [2]. All of these must be considered when studying astrophysical contexts such as studies of the Martian surface, dust aggregates in protoplanetary disks, or lunar regolith transport. Unfortunately, the question of how dust particle charging affects monomer pile dynamics remains largely unanswered. This presentation will present an experimental method for characterizing micron-sized particles on a surface and exploring dust particle charging under differing conditions.

¹ C. Xiang, A. Carballido, R.D. Hanna, L.S. Matthews, and T.W. Hyde, Icarus 321, 99 (2019).

² T. Becker, T. Steinpilz, J. Teiser, and G. Wurm, Mon Not R Astron Soc (2022)