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Increase of the electric field in head‐on collisions between negative and positive streamers
Author(s) -
Ihaddadene Mohand A.,
Celestin Sebastien
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2015gl064623
Subject(s) - electric field , physics , electron , plasma , monte carlo method , head (geology) , collision , picosecond , atomic physics , acceleration , computational physics , nuclear physics , optics , geology , laser , classical mechanics , statistics , mathematics , computer security , quantum mechanics , geomorphology , computer science
Head‐on collisions between negative and positive streamer discharges have recently been suggested to be responsible for the production of high electric fields leading to X‐rays emissions. Using a plasma fluid approach, we model head‐on collisions between negative and positive streamers. We observe the occurrence of a very strong electric field at the location of the streamer collision. However, the enhancement of the field produces a strong increase in the electron density, which leads to a collapse of the field over only a few picoseconds. Using a Monte Carlo model, we have verified that this process is therefore not responsible for the acceleration of a significant number of electrons to energy >1 keV. We conclude that no significant X‐ray emission could be produced by the head‐on encounter of nonthermal streamer discharges. Moreover, we quantify the optical emissions produced in the streamer collision.