Structure and Spectrum of Dust Coulomb Clusters

In our study, the dynamics of Coulomb cluster systems were simulated for different number of particles. The spectra of energy states of dust Coulomb clusters corresponding to various packing sequences were obtained. The broadening of the spectrum due to inter‐ring twist was discovered. It was found that the inter‐ring twist will lead to a change in the energy spectrum of Coulomb cluster. This change was accompanied by a distortion of stable shells such that particles are able to compensate for any additional Coulomb energy (owing to the inter‐ring twist) by further reducing their radial distance as much as possible. The overall effect is a change in the shape of the outer‐shell from circular to elliptical.