ELECTROSTATIC ION-CYCLOTRON INSTABILITY IN DUSTY PLASMAS

The effect of charged dust on the collisionless electrostatic ion cycl otron instability is investigated. Standard linear Vlasov theory is us ed to estimate the critical electron drift in the presence of either p ositively or negatively charged dust. The dust is assumed to be unifor m in both mass and charge with the dust mass much greater than the ion mass. It is shown that the critical drift decreases as the charge den sity carried by negatively charged dust increases. Possible applicatio ns to the current system connecting Jupiter and its satellite Io, as-w ell as that of the Saturnian rings are discussed.