The first experimental evidence of detecting the neutrons correlated with the natural atmospheric lightning discharges (NALD) was obtained with Lead‐Free Gulmarg Neutron Monitor (LFGNM) operating at High Altitude Research Laboratory, Gulmarg, Kashmir, India, and was reported in the year 1985. The neutron observations still continue with LFGNM. However, the current configuration of LFGNM is the upgraded version of the system used earlier to record neutron bursts (in the recording period of 320 μs in four successive electronic gates of 80 μs each) supposedly originating from an NALD. In the current system the neutron recording time period/interval has been extended to 1260 μs with 63 successive gates of 20 μs each. The system also simultaneously records the differential times—maximum up to 14—between the consecutive strokes of a multistroke lightning flash. The distance between an NALD channel and LFGNM setup is determined empirically by making use of the time delay (td)/time of flight (TOF) measurement of the first detected neutron subsequent to the sensing of the electrostatic field variation caused by the initiation of an NALD in the ambient atmosphere of the LFGNM setup. Assuming a priori incident energy as 2.45 MeV of the detected neutrons supposedly generated due to the fusion of deuterium ions in the lightning discharge channel leads to quantifying the neutron emission flux if the NALD channel distance with respect to the LFGNM setup is established. In this paper we discuss the experiment and the time profiles of several of a large number of the major neutron burst events recorded with LFGNM in association with NALDs. Moreover, a rare and an extraordinary neutron burst event, in terms of its associated “td/TOF” of first detected neutron after triggering, recorded by this system is specifically discussed. In this event, the recorded TOF of 14 μs of the escaping neutron detected by the system immediately after getting triggered by the NALD that struck a nearby tree found located just around 300 m (physically measured) away from the detector position indicates the energy of the detected neutron ϵn ≈2.45 MeV. In the light of this only event, we, therefore, cautiously suggest deuteron‐deuteron fusion reaction, 2H(2H,n)3He, as one of the possible mechanisms of the neutron generation correlated with an NALD. Nonetheless, the observations so far have reconfirmed production of neutrons in an NALD.
A lead-free neutron monitor operating at High Altitude Research Laboratory (HARL), Gulmarg optimized for detecting 2.45 MeV neutron bursts produced during the atmospheric lightning discharges is also concurrently used for studying background neutron component present in the atmosphere. These background neutrons are produced due to the interaction of primary cosmic rays with the atmospheric constituents. In order to study and extract the information about the yield of the neutron production during transient atmospheric lightning discharges, the system is continuously operated to monitor and record the cosmic ray produced background secondary neutrons in the atmosphere. The data analysis of the background neutrons recorded by Lead-Free Gulmarg Neutron Monitor (LFGNM) has convincingly established that the modulation effects due to solar activity phenomena compare very well with those monitored by the worldwide IGY or NM64 type neutron monitors which have optimum energy response relatively towards the higher energy regime of the cosmic rays. The data has revealed various types of modulation phenomena like diurnal variation, Forbush decrease etc during its entire operational period. However, a new kind of a periodic/seasonal variation pattern is also revealed in the data from September 2007 to September 2012, which is seen to be significantly consistent with the data recorded by Emilio Segre observatory, Israel (ESOI) Neutron Monitor. Interestingly, both these neutron monitors have comparable latitude and altitude. However, the same type of consistency is not observed in the data recorded by the other conventional neutron monitors operating across the globe.
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