Abstract
We show the existence of a new class of astrophysical objects where the self-gravity of the dust is balanced by the force arising from shielded electric fields on the charged dust. The problem of equilibrium dust clouds is formulated in terms of an equation of hydrostatic force balance together with an equation of state. Because of the dust charge reduction at high dust density, the adiabatic index reduces from two to zero. This gives rise to a mass limit MAS for the maximum dust mass that can be supported against gravitational collapse by these fields. If the total mass MD of the dust in the interstellar cloud exceeds MAS, the dust collapses, while in the case MD < MAS, equilibrium may be achieved. The physics of the mass limit is similar to the Chandrasekhar's mass limit for compact objects, such as white dwarfs and neutron stars.
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