Have you ever wondered whether charging a water or ice cluster with a plasma can change its shape? Or why ice particles in astrophysical plasmas are often elongated rather than spherical?

In our recent paper, we investigate how electrostatic stresses affect the structure of water and ice clusters in plasma environments! We develop a theoretical model and compare it with molecular dynamics simulations, finding perfect agreement! We also assess the commonly used conductivity assumption of ice using quantum mechanical calculations.

A special thank you to my supervisors, William Goddard and Paul Bellan, for their invaluable support on this project!

For more details, check out the full paper here:https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0270908