Simultaneous effect of an external magnetic field and gas-induced friction on the caging of particles in two-dimensional Yukawa systems

Abstract

We investigate the simultaneous effect of a static homogeneous external magnetic field and a background gas medium on the quasi-localization of the dust particles -- characterized quantitatively by cage correlation functions -- in strongly coupled two-dimensional Yukawa systems. We apply the Langevin dynamics computer simulation method in which the frictional and Lorentz forces are taken into account. Both the presence of the magnetic field or the friction originating from the background gas, when acting alone, increase the caging time. When present simultaneously, however, we find that their effects combine in a nontrivial manner and act against each other within a window of the parameter values.