The criterion for self-sustaining production of relativistic runaway electron avalanches by the positron feedback in thunderstorms

Stadnichuk, Egor; Svechnikova, Ekaterina

doi:10.1016/j.atmosres.2022.106329

Cited by 8 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…These parameters depend on the magnitude of the electric field and the density of the air. In the first approximation, the values for these parameters can be retrieved from the article [34]. In general, the cells of the simple reactor are assumed to have different field strengths, air density, and cell lengths.…”

Section: Analytical Simple Reactor Model a Gamma-ray Reactor Feedbackmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The dynamics of the number of bremsstrahlung gamma-ray photons during RREA propagation along the z axis is described by the following equation [34]:…”

Section: Analytical Simple Reactor Model a Gamma-ray Reactor Feedbackmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The system with positive feedback can be characterized by the feedback coefficient [26,33,34]. For the simple reactor, the feedback coefficient shows how many times the number of high-energy particles will increase in one full reactor feedback cycle, and it is found with the following formula:…”

Section: Analytical Simple Reactor Model a Gamma-ray Reactor Feedbackmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These ideas are supported by the fact that x-rays are observed in association with lightning leader propagation [31,32]. The second possible scenario is the multiplication of RREAs by positive feedback mechanisms [21,26,[33][34][35][36][37]. The relativistic feedback works in the following way.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…RREA models based on the positive feedback are supported by the fact that their characteristic time and spectrum coincide with the characteristic time and spectrum of TGF [2][3][4]25]. Nevertheless, the relativistic feedback requires strong largescale electric fields, which have never been directly experimentally observed in thunderstorms [33,34,36,39].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Simple "Reactor model" of relativistic runaway electron avalanches dynamics

Stadnichuk¹,

Zemlianskay²,

Efremova³

2021

Preprint

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<p>A possible mechanism responsible for Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs) is feedback in the relativistic runaway electron avalanches (RREA) dynamics. In this research, a new way of RREAs self-sustaining is suggested. This self-sustaining feedback can be described in the following way. Let the thundercloud consist of two regions with the electric field so that runaway electrons accelerated in one region move in the direction of another one and vice versa. For instance, such an electric field structure might appear with one positive charge layer situated between two negative charge layers. In this system, the following feedback mechanism occurs. An RREA developing in one region will produce bremsstrahlung gamma-rays. These gamma-rays will propagate into another region and produce RREAs within it. These RREAs will develop backward and radiate gamma-rays, which will penetrate the first region, generating secondary RREAs. In this way, the primary avalanche reproduced itself by the gamma-ray exchange between two sideways oriented areas with the electric field. In this work, it is shown that the electric field values required for TGF generation by this mechanism are lower than values required in Relativistic Feedback Discharge Model.</p>

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Section: Analytical Simple Reactor Model a Gamma-ray Reactor Feedbackmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The dynamics of the number of bremsstrahlung gamma-ray photons during RREA propagation along the z axis is described by the following equation [34]:…”

Section: Analytical Simple Reactor Model a Gamma-ray Reactor Feedbackmentioning

confidence: 99%