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Positron clouds within thunderstorms

Part of: Energetic Electrons

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2015

Joseph R. Dwyer ,
David M. Smith ,
Bryna J. Hazelton ,
Brian W. Grefenstette ,
Nicole A. Kelley ,
Alexander W. Lowell ,
Meagan M. Schaal  and
Hamid K. Rassoul
Joseph R. Dwyer*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Space Science Center (EOS), The University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA
David M. Smith
Affiliation:
Physics Department and Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
Bryna J. Hazelton
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
Brian W. Grefenstette
Affiliation:
Space Radiation Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
Nicole A. Kelley
Affiliation:
Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Alexander W. Lowell
Affiliation:
Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Meagan M. Schaal
Affiliation:
National Academies of Science, resident at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375
Hamid K. Rassoul
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Space Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL 32901, USA
*
†Email address for correspondence: Joseph.Dwyer@unh.edu
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Abstract

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We report the observation of two isolated clouds of positrons inside an active thunderstorm. These observations were made by the Airborne Detector for Energetic Lightning Emissions (ADELE), an array of six gamma-ray detectors, which flew on a Gulfstream V jet aircraft through the top of an active thunderstorm in August 2009. ADELE recorded two 511 keV gamma-ray count rate enhancements, 35 s apart, each lasting approximately 0.2 s. The enhancements, which were approximately a factor of 12 above background, were both accompanied by electrical activity as measured by a flat-plate antenna on the underside of the aircraft. The energy spectra were consistent with a source mostly composed of positron annihilation gamma rays, with a prominent 511 keV line clearly visible in the data. Model fits to the data suggest that the aircraft was briefly immersed in clouds of positrons, more than a kilometre across. It is not clear how the positron clouds were created within the thunderstorm, but it is possible they were caused by the presence of the aircraft in the electrified environment.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 81 , Issue 4 , August 2015 , 475810405
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

References

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