Electromagnetic modes in dusty plasmas with charge and mass distributions

Electromagnetic modes in dusty plasmas are studied for polydisperse dust grains with a distribution in charge and mass. Owing to the different charge and mass weightings of the velocities, there occurs an infinite chain of equations of motion, coupled through the magnetic part of the Lorentz force. Depending on the frequency and associated convergence regimes, one has to close the chain in ascending or in descending order. Both series together lead to the polydisperse dispersion law that is a generalization of monodisperse or size distributed dust. Power-law distributions typical for heliospheric plasmas are discussed as an application. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.