Sign on

SAO/NASA ADS Physics Abstract Service

· Find Similar Abstracts (with default settings below)
· Electronic Refereed Journal Article (HTML)
· References in the article
· Citations to the Article (15) (Citation History)
· Refereed Citations to the Article
· Also-Read Articles (Reads History)
·
· Translate This Page
Title:
Calculation of beams of positrons, neutrons, and protons associated with terrestrial gamma ray flashes
Authors:
Köhn, Christoph; Ebert, Ute
Affiliation:
AA(Center for Mathematics and Computer Science, Amsterdam, Netherlands), AB(Center for Mathematics and Computer Science, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, Netherlands)
Publication:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Volume 120, Issue 4, pp. 1620-1635 (JGRD Homepage)
Publication Date:
02/2015
Origin:
WILEY
Keywords:
terrestrial gamma ray flashes, positron beams, Hadron beams, negative stepped lightning leader, Monte Carlo simulation
Abstract Copyright:
©2015. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
DOI:
10.1002/2014JD022229
Bibliographic Code:
2015JGRD..120.1620K

Abstract

Positron beams have been observed by the Fermi satellite to be correlated with lightning leaders, and neutron emissions have been attributed to lightning and to laboratory sparks as well. Here we discuss the cross sections to be used for modeling these emissions, and we calculate the emissions of positrons, neutrons, and also protons from lightning leaders. Neutrons were first erroneously attributed to fusion reactions, but the photonuclear reaction responsible for neutrons should create protons as well. We predict them here; they have not been observed yet. In the paper, we first revisit the model for stepped lightning leaders of Xu, Celestin, and Pasko with updated cross sections, we analyze the spatial and energetic structure of the electron beam, and we calculate the spectrum of the generated gamma ray beam at 16 km altitude. Then we review the scattering processes of photons with emphasis on the processes above 5 MeV, in particular the photon energy losses in Compton scattering events and the generation of leptons and hadrons. We provide simple approximations for photon energy loss and lepton and hadron production for any photon with energy above 5 MeV passing through an arbitrary air layer. Finally, we launch a gamma ray beam with the earlier calculated spectrum of the negative stepped lightning leader from 16 km upward and calculate the production and energy of positrons, neutrons, and protons as well as the propagation of positrons.
Bibtex entry for this abstract   Preferred format for this abstract (see Preferences)

Find Similar Abstracts:

Use: Authors
Title
Keywords (in text query field)
Abstract Text
Return: Query Results Return    items starting with number
Query Form
Database: Astronomy
Physics
arXiv e-prints