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Downward emission of runaway electrons and bremsstrahlung photons in thunderstorm electric fields
Author(s) -
Torii Tatsuo,
Nishijima Takeshi,
Kawasaki ZenIchiro,
Sugita Takeshi
Publication year - 2004
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 - 10.1029/2003gl019067
Subject(s) - bremsstrahlung , physics , thunderstorm , photon , electric field , electron , cosmic ray , nuclear physics , flux (metallurgy) , atomic physics , computational physics , meteorology , optics , materials science , quantum mechanics , metallurgy
Intensive radiations presumably associated with lightning activities have sometimes been detected around nuclear facilities in Japan. In order to investigate the generation of bremsstrahlung photons caused by thunderstorm electric fields, we calculated the behavior of secondary cosmic ray electrons and photons in electric fields by Monte Carlo technique. The photon flux increased greatly in the region where the field strength exceeded 280(ρ( z )/ρ(0)) kV/m, and the photon energy spectrum showed a large increase in the energy region of several MeV. These are consistent with the observed results during the winter thunderstorms.