Related papers: The multiscale nature of streamers
We construct a two-dimensional electric circuit model for creeping discharge. Two types of discharge, surface corona and surface leader, are modeled by a two-step function of conductance. Branched patterns of surface leaders surrounded by…
We study the effect of an inhomogeneous gas density on positive streamer discharges in air using a 3D fluid model with stochastic photoionization, generalizing earlier work with a 2D axisymmetric model by Starikovskiy and Aleksandrov (2019…
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 the dynamics of negative surface discharges in air through numerical simulations with a 2D fluid model. A geometry consisting of a flat dielectric embedded between parallel-plate electrodes is used. Compared to negative…
The conditions were found when the gaseous medium demonstrates a unidirectional conductivity on a short time scale; a gas density discontinuity forms a kind of "gas-dynamic diode" that allows the plasma channel to propagate in one direction…
The avalanche to streamer transition is studied and illustrated in a particle model. The results are similar to those of fluid models. However, when super-particles are introduced, numerical artefacts become visible. This underscores the…
Multiple observations of Blue Jets (BJ)) show that BJ emits a fan of streamers similar to a laboratory leader. Moreover,in the exponential atmosphere those long streamers grow preferentially upward, producing a narrow coneconfined by the…
Standard photographs of streamer discharges show a two-dimensional projection. We here present stereo-photographic images that resolve their three-dimensional structure. We describe the stereoscopic set-up and evaluation, and we present…
We recently have shown that a negative streamer in a sufficiently high homogeneous field can branch spontaneously due to a Laplacian instability, rather than approach a stationary mode of propagation with fixed radius. In our previous…
A 2D approach is used to simulate the properties of positive and negative streamers emerging from a high-voltage electrode in a long (14 cm) air gap for standard pressure and temperature. The applied voltage varies from 100 to 500 kV. To…
In this paper we study the lateral instability of streamer discharges using a continuum discharge model. We observe similarities to Kelvin-Helmholz instability in fluids. In strong electric fields, lateral long wave length perturbations can…
The numerical simulation of the development of a streamer discharge in a gap with an external longitudinal magnetic field was used to demonstrate the self-focusing of such discharges. Self-focusing is caused by a sharp deceleration of the…
Positive and negative streamers are studied in ambient air at 1 bar; they emerge from a needle electrode placed 40 mm above a planar electrode. The amplitudes of the applied voltage pulses range from 5 to 96 kV; most pulses have rise times…
In sufficiently large gaps and electric fields, discharge streamers do branch. In [Arrayas et al., PRL 88, 174502 (2002)], we observed streamer branching numerically within a deterministic particle density model and explained it as a…
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…
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…
We simulate short positive and negative streamers in air at standard temperature and pressure. They evolve in homogeneous electric fields or emerge from needle electrodes with voltages of 10 to 20 kV. The streamer velocity at given streamer…
A recently proposed Following Streamer mechanism (Feng et al. 2025 Phys. Rev. Applied 23 064039) seeks to explain how floating metal particles induce SF6 streamer breakdown in the combined gap. This mechanism is derived from a 2D…
A contour dynamics model for electrical discharges is obtained and analyzed. The model is deduced as the asymptotic limit of the minimal streamer model for the propagation of electric discharges, in the limit of small electron diffusion.…
The propagation of a streamer near an insulating surface under the influence of a transverse magnetic field is theoretically investigated. In the weak magnetic field limit it is shown that the trajectory of the streamer has a circular form…