  The fate of aerosols in open flows is relevant in a variety of physical
contexts. Previous results are consistent with the assumption that such
finite-size particles always escape in open chaotic advection. Here we show
that a different behavior is possible. We analyze the dynamics of aerosols both
in the absence and presence of gravitational effects, and both when the
dynamics of the fluid particles is hyperbolic and nonhyperbolic. Permanent
trapping of aerosols much heavier than the advecting fluid is shown to occur in
all these cases. This phenomenon is determined by the occurrence of multiple
vortices in the flow and is predicted to happen for realistic particle-fluid
density ratios.
