Chilingarian Ashot, Chilingaryan Suren, Karapetyan Tigran, Kozliner Lev, Khanikyants Yeghia, Hovsepyan Gagik, Pokhsraryan David, Soghomonyan Suren
Yerevan Physics Institute, 2 Alikhanyan Brothers, 0036, Yerevan, Armenia.
National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute), Moscow, 115409, Russian Federation.
Sci Rep. 2017 May 2;7(1):1371. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-01288-0.
The relationship of lightning and elementary particle fluxes in the thunderclouds is not fully understood to date. Using the particle beams (the so-called Thunderstorm Ground Enhancements - TGEs) as a probe we investigate the characteristics of the interrelated atmospheric processes. The well-known effect of the TGE dynamics is the abrupt termination of the particle flux by the lightning flash. With new precise electronics, we can see that particle flux decline occurred simultaneously with the rearranging of the charge centers in the cloud. The analysis of the TGE energy spectra before and after the lightning demonstrates that the high-energy part of the TGE energy spectra disappeared just after lightning. The decline of particle flux coincides on millisecond time scale with first atmospheric discharges and we can conclude that Relativistic Runaway Electron Avalanches (RREA) in the thundercloud assist initiation of the negative cloud to ground lightning. Thus, RREA can provide enough ionization to play a significant role in the unleashing of the lightning flash.
迄今为止，雷云中闪电与基本粒子通量之间的关系尚未完全明晰。我们利用粒子束（即所谓的雷暴地面增强——TGEs）作为探针，来研究相关大气过程的特征。TGE动力学的一个众所周知的效应是，闪电会使粒子通量突然终止。借助新型精密电子设备，我们可以看到，粒子通量下降与云中电荷中心的重新排列同时发生。对闪电前后TGE能谱的分析表明，TGE能谱的高能部分在闪电之后即刻消失。粒子通量的下降在毫秒时间尺度上与首次大气放电相吻合，我们可以得出结论：雷云中的相对论逃逸电子雪崩（RREA）有助于引发负云地闪电。因此，RREA能够提供足够的电离作用，在闪电的释放过程中发挥重要作用。
