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| Titel |
Production of runaway electrons in electric discharges and their impact on branching |
| VerfasserIn |
O. Chanrion, T. Neubert |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2009
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 11 (2009) |
| Datensatznummer |
250028430
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| Zusammenfassung |
| The discovery of bursts of X- and γ-rays from the atmosphere above thunderstorms has raised
new questions relating to the electric discharge process. The bursts of radiation are thought to
be generated by bremsstrahlung from energetic electrons accelerated in electric discharges of
the thunderstorm. To study the production of such high energy electrons in conventional
(thermal) discharges a particle in cell with Monte Carlo Collision (PIC-MCC) code is used.
A 2D cylindrical version of the code allows simulating streamer discharges until
a time when the first runaway electrons appear. High energy electrons are seen
to create ionization trails of ionization ahead of the streamer which stimulate its
branching. In order to improve the precision of the number of runaway electron
inside the streamer tip, a 1D version of the code with improved particle resolution in
the high energy range is used. It allows calculating the probability for electrons
to have energies above the runaway threshold. It is found that the probability of
generating runaway electrons is significant even for modest field in the streamer tip. |
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