Nonthermal effects on the Buneman instability in Lorentzian dusty plasmas

Abstract

The nonthermal effects on the Buneman instability due to the ion streaming are investigated in Lorentzian dusty plasmas. The growth rates and frequency of the Buneman instability are obtained as functions of the spectral index of the Lorentzian plasma. It is shown that the nonthermal effect suppresses the growth rates as well as the real frequency term of the unstable root. Hence, the growth rates of the Buneman instability in nonthermal plasmas are found to be always smaller than those in Maxwellian plasmas. It is also found that the nonthermal effects on the growth rates decrease with increasing wave number. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3546026]