Plasma characteristics of streamers in neon

Avalanche decay and dynamics of streamers

“…In [1] the velocity of the anode-directed streamer is assumed to be constant and, for the discussed case, to be equal to v a = 6.4 × 10 7 cm s −1 . This is in contradiction to [4] and the simplest considerations of symmetry, since, in accordance with the symmetry considerations, the anodedirected streamer should be accelerated similarly to the cathode-directed streamer. The problem of the streamer velocity upper limit is discussed below.…”

“…Also, from (1) the simultaneous starts and the equality of the initial velocities of the anode-and cathode-directed streamers registered in [4] follow. In the mentioned paper the source of the streamers is not the avalanche, but an external elementary particle with an almost zero impulse directed along the electric field.…”

“…In this case the avalanche transition into streamers may be interpreted much as the nuclear decay in nuclear physics. However, the one-dimensionality of the EGB problem and the obvious mass equality of the 'fragments' make it possible, based on the law of conservation of energy and impulse, to give a new simple explanation of the whole process and to agree with the results of experiments in [1,4]. This also allows a quantitative estimation of the basic parameters of the discussed model and, first of all, the mass parameters.…”

“…It was supposed that the EGB channel has internal longitudinal oscillations. The initial parameters of the streamers are symmetrical according to [4], but this explanation does not satisfy the case of asymmetry of the initial parameters [1]. Moreover, it was not explained why the EGB wave decreases in diameter.…”

“…Depending on the angle between the particle velocity and the field line direction in a chamber one can obtain either a pair of streamers or a set of pairs of equidistant streamers. Initial velocities of the anode and cathode streamers are almost equal, though their ratio slightly changes depending on the value of the applied voltage [4].…”