Physics
Scientific paper
Jan 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011georl..3802808b&link_type=abstract
Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 38, Issue 2, CiteID L02808
Physics
18
Atmospheric Processes: Atmospheric Electricity, Atmospheric Processes: Lightning
Scientific paper
Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs) are brief pulses of energetic radiation observed in low-earth orbit. They are associated with thunderstorms and lightning and have been observed both as gamma-ray and electron flashes depending on the position of the spacecraft with respect to the source. While gamma-ray TGFs are detected as short pulses lasting less than 1 ms, most TGFs seen by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) with durations greater than 1 ms are, instead, the result of electrons traveling from the sources along geomagnetic field lines. We perform spectral analysis of the three brightest electron TGFs detected by GBM and discover strong 511 keV positron annihilation lines, demonstrating that these electron TGFs also contain substantial positron components. This shows that pair production occurs in conjunction with some terrestrial lightning and that most likely all TGFs are injecting electron-positron beams into the near Earth environment.
Bhat Narayan P.
Briggs Michael Stephen
Chaplin Vandiver L.
Connaughton Valerie V.
Dwyer Joesph R.
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