Analysis of PK-4 Non-Equilibrium Microgravity Dusty Plasma

Complex systems, such as biological systems, economies, and social networks, typically operate far from equilibrium, exhibiting strong and nonlocal interactions, self-organization, and anomalous dynamics. Understanding such non-equilibrium conditions is crucial for predicting the behavior and function of complex systems as it drives dynamical processes and enables emergent phenomena that are not possible in equilibrium conditions. Dusty plasmas, or collections of charged macroscopic particles suspended in low temperature plasma, are an ideal test system for the investigation of non-equilibrium phenomena. Here we analyze data from the microgravity dusty plasma experiment, Plasmakristall-4, on board the International Space Station. The dust clouds in these experiments have been shown to exhibit anisotropic structure formation and exhibit anomalous diffusion in states far from equilibrium. Structure formation in these experiments is characterized using several bond order and pair correlation codes, while diffusion constants and temperature anisotropies are extracted from histograms of particle positions and displacements.

All authors acknowledge the joint ESA / Roscosmos Experiment Plasmakristall-4 (PK-4) onboard the International Space Station. This research is funded by NSF-PHY-2308742, NSF-PHY-2308743, NSF EPSCoR FTPP OIA-2148653, NASA JPL 1571701, NASA 80NSSC21KO381, DE-SC0021334, DE-SC0024681, and A230106S001.