Can double layers exist without electric fields?
Can double layers exist without electric fields?
I phrase the question that way to highlight what might be an obvious gap in our thinking.
Electrical Double Layers (DL) form naturally in plasma. They have not been extensively studied, as for example Gauss' Law or Ampere's Law have been extensively studied. There is something non-obvious about DL. A double layer is a region of non-neutral plasma consisting of two adjacent space charge layers of opposite sign.
Each of these shells is a double layer. Here the anode is in the middle, aka, the positive pole. The inside edge of each shell is more negative, the outside edge more positive. Like this
So when we see alternating densities of positive and negative charges between the Sun and the Earth, could those really form without external electric fields? Most material I find on the Earth's electric current, of which there is a large amount written, (see for example Gaetan Chavalier's "The Earth’s Electrical Surface Potential") still assumes that the Earth's electrical environment is generate solely from lighting storm on Earth. No mention of electrical phenomena on Earth being connected to electrical phenomena from the Sun or Solar System.
I would propose that the complex alternation of charge densities and currents we see around the Earth can only occur because of electric fields external to the Earth. In other words, we can envision the Sun and Earth at opposite ends of a plasma discharge tube, with that driving potential between the two ends causing all the complex electrical alternations.
As an interesting note on how science often gets done,
assume that the electrical phenomena on Earth can only be caused by factors on Earth
assume that charge separation in the atmosphere can only be because of local causes on Earth like heat and convection and friction etc.
assume this is the cause of lightning
count the number of lightning strokes on Earth and figure out how much current the average lightning stroke must carry in order to produce the observed charge separation between the surface of the Earth and the Ionosphere.
Make a statement like, "lightning storms on Earth provide the required 1,000 amperes continuous current to maintain the Earth's electrical surface potential."
But what gets completely lost is that we have assumed what we want to be true, then made statements about what has to happen in order for that to be true, then conclude that it is true.