Related papers: Deviations from the local field approximation in n…
Particle models for streamer ionization fronts contain correct electron energy distributions, runaway effects and single electron statistics. Conventional fluid models are computationally much more efficient for large particle numbers, but…
Recently a moving boundary approximation for the minimal model for negative streamer ionization fronts was extended with effects due to front curvature; this was done through a systematic solvability analysis. A central prediction of this…
Starting from the minimal model for the electrically interacting particle densities in negative streamer discharges, we derive a moving boundary approximation for the ionization fronts. The boundary condition on the moving front is found to…
The high order fluid model developed in the preceding paper is employed here to study the propagation of negative planar streamer fronts in pure nitrogen. The model consists of the balance equations for electron density, average electron…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
The minimal density model for negative streamer ionization fronts is investigated. An earlier moving boundary approximation for this model consisted of a "kinetic undercooling" type boundary condition in a Laplacian growth problem of…
The growth of streamer discharges is determined at their heads, for individual streamers as well as in collective phenomena, such as streamer trees or coronas or streamer bursts ahead of lightning leaders. Some properties of the streamer…
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…
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…
Previous studies of streamer discharge branching mechanisms have mainly been generative other than predictive. To predict or even control branching, a reliable connection between experimental conditions and streamer branching needs to be…
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…
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 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…
Photoionization fronts play a dominant role in many astrophysical environments, but remain difficult to achieve in a laboratory experiment. Recent papers have suggested that experiments using a nitrogen medium held at ten atmospheres of…
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…
The evolution of negative streamers during electric breakdown of a non-attaching gas can be described by a two-fluid model for electrons and positive ions. It consists of continuity equations for the charged particles including drift,…