Equilibrium configuration of self-gravitating charged dust clouds: Particle approach

A three dimensional Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation is carried out to explore the equilibrium configurations of charged dust particles. These equilibrium configurations are of astrophysical significance for the conditions of molecular clouds and the interstellar medium. The interaction among the dust grains is modeled by Yukawa repulsion and gravitational attraction. The spherically symmetric equilibria are constructed which are characterized by three parameters: (i) the number of particles in the cloud, (ii) Γg (defined in the text) where Γ g − 1 is the short range cutoff of the interparticle potential, and (iii) the temperature of the grains. The effects of these parameters on dust cloud are investigated using a radial density profile. The problem of equilibrium is also formulated in the mean field limit where total dust pressure, which is the sum of kinetic pressure and the electrostatic pressure, balances the self-gravity. The mean field solutions agree well with the results of MD simulations. The astrophysical significance of the results is briefly discussed.