Electrostatic ion cyclotron instability in dusty plasmas

The effect of charged dust on the collisionless electrostatic ion cyclotron instability is investigated. Standard linear Vlasov theory is used to estimate the critical electron drift in the presence of either positively or negatively charged dust. The dust is assumed to be uniform 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 density carried by negatively charged dust increases. Possible applications to the current system connecting Jupiter and its satellite Io, as well as that of the Saturnian rings are discussed.