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Constraining Downward Terrestrial Gamma Ray Flashes Using Ground‐Based Particle Detector Arrays
Author(s) -
Berge N.,
Celestin S.
Publication year - 2019
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 - 10.1029/2019gl083252
Subject(s) - physics , satellite , detector , gamma ray , telescope , event (particle physics) , lightning (connector) , remote sensing , atmosphere (unit) , astrophysics , photon , environmental science , astronomy , meteorology , optics , geology , power (physics) , quantum mechanics
Until recently, there were only a few ground‐based observations of terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs). Since the Telescope Array in Utah, USA, started reporting detections of high‐energy particles correlated with lightning, their number has greatly increased. Ground observations of TGFs represent a valuable addition to space‐borne detectors. The proximity to the event and the ability to observe an event with several detectors may reveal new information about the production of TGFs. In this paper, we study downward directed TGFs using Monte Carlo modeling of photon transport through the atmosphere. The Telescope Array‐observed pulses of gamma rays spread over periods of a few hundred microseconds. We predict such structures to be observable at satellite altitude, given sufficient time resolution. Additionally, we demonstrate how various source spectra would lead to different number of photons reaching ground, which impacts the conclusions one can draw using observational data.