Nonlinear development of the dust acoustic instability in a collisional dusty plasma

We study the nonlinear behavior of the low-frequency dust acoustic instability in a collisional dusty plasma by means of particle simulations. The instability arises due to the streaming of plasma ions and neutrals relative to charged dust grains. According to linear theory, the presence of collisions between the plasma ions and a neutral gas background reduces the growth rate of the instability. Nonlinearly, however, the presence of drifting neutrals maintains the initial relative drift between plasma and dust ions until the unstable waves grow to large amplitude and collisions due to wave-particle interactions exceed the neutral collisions. As a result, stronger nonlinear effects, as manifested by enhanced fluctuations, larger amounts of plasma and dust heating, and a temporary reduction of the relative drift velocity, can occur in the presence of collisions