Study of dust particle charging in weakly ionized inert gases taking into account the nonlocality of the electron energy distribution function

The charging of dust particles in weakly ionized inert gases at atmospheric pressure has been investigated. The conditions under which the gas is ionized by an external source, a beam of fast electrons, are considered. The electron energy distribution function in argon, krypton, and xenon has been calculated for three rates of gas ionization by fast electrons: 10¹³, 10¹⁴, and 10¹⁵ cm^⃛ s⁻¹. A model of dust particle charging with allowance for the nonlocal formation of the electron energy distribution function in the region of strong plasma quasi-neutrality violation around the dust particle is described. The nonlocality is taken into account in an approximation where the distribution function is a function of only the total electron energy. Comparative calculations of the dust particle charge with and without allowance for the nonlocality of the electron energy distribution function have been performed. Allowance for the nonlocality is shown to lead to a noticeable increase in the dust particle charge due to the influence of the group of hot electrons from the tail of the distribution function. It has been established that the screening constant virtually coincides with the smallest screening constant determined according to the asymptotic theory of screening with the electron transport and recombination coefficients in an unperturbed plasma.