interaction and was becoming more compact for longer range interactions. The
origin of such behavior is not completely clear so far.
The large charged clusters may be unstable with respect to formation of elongated or linear structures. The theory predicts formation of near-linear chains with
Cluster
nucleus
Cluster with
external branches
Dissociation of
cluster
3
max
1
⎟ ⎟
⎠
⎞
⎜ ⎜
⎝
⎛
∝ u v
u s
N
2
/
3
max
2
⎟ ⎟
⎠
⎞
⎜ ⎜
⎝
⎛
∝ u e
u v
N
⎟ ⎟
⎠
⎞
⎜ ⎜
⎝
⎛
∝ u e
u s
N
max
3
Fig. 3 The critical sizes of charged cluster N
max
1 ; N
max
2
and N
max
3 . The values of N
max
1 ; N
max
2
and
N
max
3 , correspond to the formation of initial nucleus, growth of external branches, and dissociation
of charged droplets, respectively
10
3
10
2
10
1
10
1
10
2
10
3
a/ u o = 1
2
5
N max
,
2
N max
3
2a/b
λ b
max
3
N
max
2
N
Fig. 4 Maximum cluster sizes N
max
2
and N
max
3
versus ratio 2a/b at fixed values of a/u 0 ¼ 1, 2, and 5
72
N.I. Lebovka