Photonuclear reactions triggered by lightning discharge

@article{Enoto2017PhotonuclearRT, title={Photonuclear reactions triggered by lightning discharge}, author={Teruaki Enoto and Yuuki Wada and Yoshihiro Furuta and Kazuhiro Nakazawa and Takayuki Yuasa and Kazufumi Okuda and Kazuo Makishima and Mitsuteru Sato and Yousuke Sato and Toshio Nakano and Daigo Umemoto and Harufumi Tsuchiya}, journal={Nature}, year={2017}, volume={551}, pages={481-484}, url={https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:4388159} }
Ground-based observations of neutron and positron signals after lightning provide conclusive evidence of positrons being produced after the lightning, and the centre energy of the prolonged line emission corresponds to electron–positron annihilation.

Modeling Neutron Emissions in High Energy Atmospheric Phenomena

Neutron emissions with different durations have been observed during thunderstorms. These neutrons can be produced by microsecond to millisecond fast Terrestrial Gamma‐ray Flashes correlated with

Measurements of Ionizing Radiation Generated in Thunderstorms

Measurements and theoretical studies show that thunderclouds can act as particle accelerators in nature. Terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs) are bursts of gamma rays with energies ranging from below

Highly dynamic gamma-ray emissions are common in tropical thunderclouds

Thunderstorms emit fluxes of gamma rays known as gamma-ray glows1,2, sporadically observed by aircraft1,3–7, balloons8–11 and from the ground12–18. Observations report increased gamma-ray emissions

Reconstruction of high energy thunderstorm radiation effects on soil matrix using Monte Carlo simulations

Due to their electromagnetic properties, thunderclouds can act as natural particle accelerators. Electrons accelerated in the thunderclouds can reach energies up to tens of MeV. Large populations of

A Terrestrial Gamma‐Ray Flash inside the Eyewall of Hurricane Patricia

On 23 October 2015 at ~1732 UTC, the Airborne Detector for Energetic Lightning Emissions (ADELE) flew through the eyewall of Hurricane Patricia aboard National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Generation Possibility of Gamma‐Ray Glows Induced by Photonuclear Reactions

Relativistic runaway electron avalanches (RREAs) imply a large multiplication of high‐energy electrons (∼1 MeV). Two factors are necessary for this phenomenon: a high electric field sustained over a

Downward terrestrial gamma-ray flash associated with collision of lightning leaders

Lightning discharges can produce transient gamma-ray emissions called terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs), which originates from electrons accelerated to relativistic energies in strong electric

Title Termination of Electron Acceleration in Thundercloud byIntra / Inter-cloud Discharge

An on-ground observation program for high-energy atmospheric phenomena in winter thunderstorms along the Japan Sea has been performed via measurements of gamma ray radiation, atmospheric electric
...

High-Energy Atmospheric Physics: Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes and Related Phenomena

It is now well established that both thunderclouds and lightning routinely emit x-rays and gamma-rays. These emissions appear over wide timescales, ranging from sub-microsecond bursts of x-rays

Observation of thundercloud-related gamma rays and neutrons in Tibet

During the 2010 rainy season in Yangbajing (4300 m above sea level) in Tibet, China, a long-duration count enhancement associated with thunderclouds was detected by a solar-neutron telescope and

On-ground detection of an electron-positron annihilation line from thunderclouds.

The result suggests that a downward positron beam produced both the continuum and the line photons, which implies a nontrivial result.

Neutron production in terrestrial gamma ray flashes

[1] Terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs) are brief bursts of photons with energies up to 20 MeV typically observed in association with lightning. Such energetic photons may undergo photonuclear

Neutron generation in lightning bolts

Intense electrical discharges through polymer fibres have been shown1 to produce 2.45-MeV neutrons, probably by deuteron–deuteron fusion. Noting broad similarities between discharges in polymer

Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes as powerful particle accelerators.

It is determined that the TGF emission above 10 MeV has a significant power-law spectral component reaching energies up to 100 MeV, and these results challenge TGF theoretical models based on runaway electron acceleration.

The relativistic feedback discharge model of terrestrial gamma ray flashes

[1] As thunderclouds charge, the large-scale fields may approach the relativistic feedback threshold, above which the production of relativistic runaway electron avalanches becomes self-sustaining

Long-duration gamma-ray emissions from 2007 and 2008 winter thunderstorms

The Gamma-Ray Observation of Winter THunderclouds (GROWTH) experiment, consisting of two radiation-detection subsystems, has been operating since 2006 on the premises of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear

Discovery of Intense Gamma-Ray Flashes of Atmospheric Origin

Detectors aboard the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory have observed an unexplained terrestrial phenomenon: brief, intense flashes of gamma rays. These flashes must originate in the atmosphere at