On the origin of particle fluxes from thunderclouds

2019 
Abstract We present the observational data on registration of atmospheric discharges simultaneously with the detection of elementary particles obtained during thunderstorms at an altitude of 3200 m above sea level on Mt. Aragats in Armenia. Throughout the 2016 summer and 2018 spring campaigns on Aragats, we monitored lightning occurrences and signals from NaI spectrometers, plastic scintillators and Neutron Monitor proportional counters, and analyzed the shape of registered pulses. Particle detector signals were synchronized with lightning occurrences at a few nanoseconds level. Analysis of shapes of the simultaneously detected pulses of the fast wideband electric field produced by a lightning flash and pulses from particle detectors discloses that all additional detector pulses registered during lightning flash were the electromagnetic interference signals and not particles originated directly from the lightning bolt. Thus, we observe no evidence of the direct production of electrons, neutrons or gamma rays during a lightning flash. We conclude that the entire particle fluxes detected on Aragats research station (more than 250 TGEs) can be explained by the generation of MeV electromagnetic cascades in the strong atmospheric electric fields.
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