Investigation of a sudden compression in a dusty plasma with increasing magnetic field*

Recent experiments in the Magnetized Dusty Plasma eXperiment (MDPX) in the Magnetized Plasma Research Laboratory (MPRL) at Auburn University studying a dusty plasma in the presence of a magnetic field revealed an unexpected example of self-organization and critical behavior.  In these studies, it was observed that the dust cloud underwent a gentle compression as the magnetic field strength increased.  However, at a critical value of the magnetic field (B ∼ 0.06 T), the dust cloud underwent a sudden compression.  At the observed magnetic field strength, electrons are strongly magnetized with a Hall parameter of ∼50 and the ions are unmagnetized with a Hall parameter of ∼0.08, indicating that the electron magnetization appears to play a dominant role in modifying the plasma behavior which, in turn, significantly impacts the dusty plasma.  This presentation will focus on initial measurements aimed at beginning to understand the cause of this sudden compression.