X- and gamma ray observations in high-altitude thunderstorms in Mexico

Abstract:

High-energy emission from lightning is more easily measured at high altitudes, close to or within the electric fields accelerating the energetic particles. Gamma rays from long duration glows and x-rays from stepped leaders attenuate with distance. From mountaintops, it may be possible to measure an amplified version of the x-rays commonly seen from stepped leaders. These amplified x-rays could arise from the thunderstorm electric field multiplying the energetic particles via Relativistic Runaway Electron Avalanches (RREA). Amplified stepped leaders may be similar or even the same as terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs), which need long-range electric fields to produce the intensities seen from space. We deployed two gamma-ray detectors at the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory site on the northeastern slope of the Sierra Negra near Puebla, Mexico at 4100 meters to search for amplified leader events and also for the minutes-long gamma-ray glows observed from thunderstorms by other groups from the ground, balloons, and aircraft. We will also examine the data from HAWC itself, a large array of water tanks viewed by photomultiplier tubes, to look for signals simultaneous with any in our scintillators. In principle, large Cherenkov detectors and small scintillators can give complementary data about the radiation field, emphasizing the total energy content and the number flux of particles, respectively. We will present results from the summer 2014 deployment and talk about future lightning gamma-ray detectors to be deployed at HAWC.