Related papers: X-ray Emissions in a Multiscale Fluid Model of a S…

We introduce a 3D hybrid model for streamer discharges that follows the dynamics of single electrons in the region with strong field enhancement at the streamer tip while approximating the many electrons in the streamer interior as…

We here propose a model to capture the complexity of the streamer corona adjacent to leader stepping and relate it to the production of energetic electrons serving as a source of X-rays and $\gamma$-rays, manifesting in terrestrial…

Both fluid and particle models are commonly used to simulate streamer discharges. In this paper, we quantitatively study the agreement between these approaches for axisymmetric and 3D simulations of positive streamers in air. We use a…

The dynamics of positive and negative streamers is numerically simulated in atmospheric pressure air. It is shown that positive and negative streamers behave in radically different ways when decelerating and stopping. When the head…

We investigate discharge inception in air, in uniform background electric fields above and below the breakdown threshold. We perform 3D particle simulations that include a natural level of background ionization in the form of positive and…

In the high field region at the head of a discharge streamer, the electron energy distribution develops a long tail. In negative streamers, these electrons can run away and contribute to energetic processes such as terrestrial gamma-ray and…

We use numerical simulations to study the dynamics of surface discharges, which are common in high-voltage engineering. We simulate positive streamer discharges that propagate towards a dielectric surface, attach to it, and then propagate…

Streamers are the first stage of sparks and lightning; they grow due to a strongly enhanced electric field at their tips; this field is created by a thin curved space charge layer. These multiple scales are already challenging when the…

Space-charge dominated streamer discharges can emerge in free space from single electrons. We reinvestigate the Raether-Meek criterion and show that streamer emergence depends not only on ionization and attachment rates and gap length, but…

We investigate streamer formation in the troposphere, in electric fields above the breakdown threshold. With fully three-dimensional particle simulations, we study the combined effect of natural background ionization and of photoionization…

Streamer discharges pose basic problems in plasma physics, as they are very transient, far from equilibrium and have high ionization density gradients; they appear in diverse areas of science and technology. The present paper focuses on the…

We compare simulations and experiments of single positive streamer discharges in air at 100 mbar, aiming towards model validation. Experimentally, streamers are generated in a plate-plate geometry with a protruding needle. We are able to…

Streamer discharges are the primary mode of electric breakdown of air in lightning and high voltage technology. Streamer channels branch many times, which determines the developing tree-like discharge structure. Understanding these branched…

A simulation model for second mode positive streamers in dielectric liquids is presented. Initiation and propagation is modeled by an electron-avalanche mechanism and the Townsend--Meek criterion. The electric breakdown is simulated in a…

Streamer discharges can be used as a primary source of reactive species for plasma-assisted combustion. In this research we investigate positive streamers in a stoichiometric air-methane mixture at 1 bar and 300 K with a three-dimensional…

Streamers, thin, ionized plasma channels, form the early stages of lightning discharges. Here we approach the study of extraterrestrial lightning by studying the formation and propagation of streamer discharges in various nitrogen-methane…

Streamer discharges are thin plasma channels that precede lightning and sparks. They usually evolve in bundles as stochastic tree-like structures and are inherently difficult to model due to their multiscale nature. In this paper, we…

In this review we describe a transient type of gas discharge which is commonly called a streamer discharge, as well as a few related phenomena in pulsed discharges. Streamers are propagating ionization fronts with self-organized field…

We recently have presented first physical predictions of a spatially hybrid model that follows the evolution of a negative streamer discharge in full three spatial dimensions; our spatially hybrid model couples a particle model in the high…

We simulate streamers in air at standard temperature and pressure in a short overvolted gap. The simulation is performed with a 3D hybrid model that traces the single electrons and photons in the low density region, while modeling the…