Experimental evidence of giant electron–gamma bursts generated by extensive atmospheric showers in thunderclouds

Gurevich, A. V.; Karashtin, A. N.; Chubenko, A. P.; Duncan, L. M.; Ryabov, V. A.; Shepetov, A. L.; Antonova, V. P.; Kryukov, S. V.; Piscal, V. V.; Ptitsyn, M.O.; Vildanova, L. I.; Shlyugaev, Yu. V.; Zybin, K. P.

doi:10.1016/j.physleta.2004.03.074

Cited by 36 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…TGF spectra measured by RHESSI reveal energies up to 30 MeV , in agreement with energies predicted by the runaway relativistic electron breakdown mechanism triggered by cosmic rays (Roussel-Dupré and Gurevich 1996;Gurevich et al 2004;Roussel-Dupré et al 2005), while most of TLE structures are explained by conventional processes (Pasko 2006). Most recent developments show that for fast (< a few ms), high current (>100 kA) positive lightning, the high altitude discharge is dominated by a diffusive air glow driven by conventional breakdown and producing TLEs at high altitudes (>60-70 km), followed by runaway breakdown, at the origin of TGFs, that initiates at the top of the cloud (∼15 km) and develop upwards to altitudes exceeding 90 km.…”

Section: Tles and Tgfs Generation Mechanismssupporting

confidence: 77%

“…Furthermore, the source of these phenomena must by all indications stem from a fundamentally new physical process that could have much broader implications and manifestations throughout the universe. Radio frequency emissions from lightning activity observed in the environment of other planets could be the signature of a physical process (runaway breakdown) proposed by several authors (Roussel-Dupré and Gurevich 1996;Gurevich et al 2004;Roussel-Dupré et al 2005) for the Earth environment (Zarka et al 2004). Such processes could be much more efficient on Jupiter (Dwyer et al 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

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TARANIS—A Satellite Project Dedicated to the Physics of TLEs and TGFs

et al. 2008

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TARANIS “Tool for the Analysis of RAdiations from lightNIngs and Sprites” is a CNES satellite project dedicated to the study of impulsive transfers of energy between the Earth atmosphere and the space environment. Such impulsive transfers of energy, identified by the observation at ground and in space (rocket, balloons, FORMOSAT 2 satellite) of Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) and the detection on satellites (CGRO, RHESSI) of Terrestrial Gamma ray Flashes (TGFs), are likely to occur in other astrophysical environments as well. The TARANIS mission and instrumentation is presented. The way the TARANIS programme (associated ground-based and balloon-based measurements included) may answer questions about the physics of TLEs and TGFs is examined. The questions addressed include: TLEs and TGFs source regions, associated phenomena, transfers of energy between the radiation belts and the atmosphere, TLEs and TGFs generation mechanisms, input parameters to the modelling of the variation of the atmosphere and the electric circuit

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Section: Tles and Tgfs Generation Mechanismssupporting

confidence: 77%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

TARANIS—A Satellite Project Dedicated to the Physics of TLEs and TGFs

et al. 2008

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“…Their source can be explained by runaway electron avalanches within electrified clouds, triggered by the background population of cosmic ray secondary (Tierney et al, 2005). Gurevich and Zybin (2005) and Gurevich et al (2004) showed that extensive air showers triggered by energetic cosmic rays can also seed runaway breakdown processes that produce narrow bipolar pulses and TGFs with weak light emission. Williams et al (2006) shows that the RHESSI TGF altitude source in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere can explain that TGFs are more frequent in low-latitude regions were the tropopause height is higher (Williams et al, 2006).…”

Section: Scientific Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

TARANIS: A microsatellite project dedicated to the study of impulsive transfers of energy between the Earth atmosphere, the ionosphere, and the magnetosphere

Blanc

Lefeuvre

Roussel-Dupré

et al. 2007

Advances in Space Research

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“…However, the Cherenkov emission mechanism is more efficient in denser media than air, like water and ice. Additionally, radio emission in air showers was claimed to be dependent on the geoelectric field, and it was found that strong electric fields in thunderstorm clouds can amplify the measured radio amplitudes (Mandolesi et al 1974;Gurevich et al 2004;Buitink et al 2007). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frequency spectra of cosmic ray air shower radio emission measured with LOPES

Nigl

Apel²,

Arteaga

et al. 2008

A&A

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Aims. We wish to study the spectral dependence of the radio emission from cosmic-ray air showers around 100 PeV (10 17 eV). Methods. We observe short radio pulses in a broad frequency band with the dipole-interferometer LOPES (LOFAR Prototype Station), which is triggered by a particle detector array named Karlsruhe Shower Core and Array Detector (KASCADE). LOFAR is the Low Frequency Array. For this analysis, 23 strong air shower events are selected using parameters from KASCADE. The radio data are digitally beam-formed before the spectra are determined by sub-band filtering and fast Fourier transformation. Results. The resulting electric field spectra fall off to higher frequencies. An average electric field spectrum is fitted with an exponential E ν = K · exp (ν/MHz/β) and β = −0.017 ± 0.004, or alternatively, with a power law ν = K · ν α and a spectral index of α = −1 ± 0.2. The spectral slope obtained is not consistent within uncertainties and it is slightly steeper than the slope obtained from Monte Carlo simulations based on air showers simulated with CORSIKA (Cosmic Ray Simulations for KASCADE). For the analyzed sample of LOPES events, we do not find any significant dependence of the spectral slope on the electric field amplitude, the azimuth angle, the zenith angle, the curvature radius, nor on the average distance of the antennae from the shower core position. But one of the strongest events was measured during thunderstorm activity in the vicinity of LOPES and shows the longest pulse length measured of 110 ns and a spectral slope of α = −3.6. Conclusions. We show with two different methods that frequency spectra from air shower radio emission can be reconstructed on event-by-event basis, with only two dozen dipole antennae simultaneously over a broad range of frequencies. According to the obtained spectral slopes, the maximum power is emitted below 40 MHz. Furthermore, the decrease in power to higher frequencies indicates a loss in coherence determined by the shower disc thickness. We conclude that a broader bandwidth, larger collecting area, and longer baselines, as will be provided by LOFAR, are necessary to further investigate the relation of the coherence, pulse length, and spectral slope of cosmic ray air showers.

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Experimental evidence of giant electron–gamma bursts generated by extensive atmospheric showers in thunderclouds

Cited by 36 publications

References 29 publications

TARANIS—A Satellite Project Dedicated to the Physics of TLEs and TGFs

TARANIS—A Satellite Project Dedicated to the Physics of TLEs and TGFs

TARANIS: A microsatellite project dedicated to the study of impulsive transfers of energy between the Earth atmosphere, the ionosphere, and the magnetosphere

Frequency spectra of cosmic ray air shower radio emission measured with LOPES

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