Related papers: Electron Acceleration Mechanisms in Thunderstorms
Gamma-ray bursts are produced by the dissipation of the kinetic energy of a highly relativistic fireball, via the formation of a collisionless shock. When this happens, Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays up to 10^20 eV are produced. I show in…
Relativistic, charged particles present in extensive air showers lead to a coherent emission of radio pulses which are measured to identify the shower initiating high-energy cosmic rays. Especially during thunderstorms, there are additional…
The runaway breakdown -- extensive atmospheric shower discharge (RB - EAS) excited in thunderstorm atmosphere by high energy cosmic ray particles ($\epsilon_p>10^{17} - 10^{19}$ eV) generate very powerful radio pulse. The RB - EAS theory is…
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are sources of energetic, highly variable fluxes of gamma rays, which demonstrates that they are powerful particle accelerators. Besides relativistic electrons, GRBs should also accelerate high-energy hadrons, some…
We calculate the creation of electron--positron pairs in Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) resulting from the collision between scattered and outward moving gamma-ray photons. The number of pairs exceeds the number of ambient medium electrons…
The absorption of a high-energy photon from the external cosmic gamma-ray background in the inner neutron star magnetosphere triggers the generation of a secondary electron-positron plasma and gives rise to a lightning - a lengthening and…
Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) are astronomical phenomena detected at highest energies. The gamma ray photons carry energies on the order of mega-electronovolts and arrive to us from the point-like sources that are uniformly distributed on the…
The process that allows cosmic rays to escape from their sources and be released into the Galaxy is still largely unknown. The comparison between cosmic-ray electron and proton spectra measured at Earth suggests that electrons are released…
The composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays is still poorly known and constitutes a very important topic in the field of high-energy astrophysics. Detection of ultra-high energy cosmic rays is carried out via the extensive air showers…
High-energy cosmic rays, impinging on the atmosphere of the Earth initiate cascades of secondary particles, the extensive air showers. The electrons and positrons in the air shower emit electromagnetic radiation. This emission is detected…
We present the first observation by the Telescope Array Surface Detector (TASD) of the effect of thunderstorms on the development of cosmic ray single count rate intensity over a 700 km$^{2}$ area. Observations of variations in the…
Highly energetic, relativistic electrons are commonly present in many astrophysical systems, from solar flares to the intra-cluster medium, as indicated by observed electromagnetic radiation. However, open questions remain about the…
In addition to the ponderomotive acceleration of highly relativistic electrons at interaction of very short and very intense laser pulses, a further acceleration is derived from the interaction of these electron beams with the spontaneous…
The TGF and Energetic Thunderstorm Rooftop Array (TETRA) is an array of NaI scintillators located at rooftop level on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. From July 2010 through March 2014, TETRA has detected…
Ultra-high energy cosmic rays interacting with the radiation fields in the universe cause electromagnetic cascades resulting in a flux of extragalactic gamma rays, detectable to some 100 GeV. Recent precise measurements of the extragalactic…
In this paper, we present the first high-speed video observation of a cloud-to-ground lightning flash and its associated downward-directed Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flash (TGF). The optical emission of the event was observed by a high-speed…
In this paper we report the first close, high-resolution observations of downward-directed terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) detected by the large-area Telescope Array cosmic ray observatory, obtained in conjunction with broadband VHF…
A free electron can temporarily gain a very significant amount of energy if it is overrun by an intense electromagnetic wave. In principle, this process would permit large enhancements in the center-of-mass energy of electron-electron,…
We observed three $\gamma$-ray bursts related to thunderclouds in winter using the prototype of anti-neutrino detector PANDA made of 360-kg plastic scintillator deployed at Ohi Power Station at the coastal area of the Japan Sea. The maximum…
Turbulence in highly magnetized plasma can be relativistic and induce an electric field comparable to the background magnetic field. Such a strong electric field can affect the emission process of non-thermal electrons. As the first step…