Strong Peak Electric Field in Streamer Discharges Caused by Rapid Changes in the External Electric Field

Abstract:

Laboratory spark discharges in air and lightning stepped leaders produce X-rays [e.g., Dwyer et al., GRL, 32, L20809, 2005; Nguyen et al., J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys., 41, 234012, 2008; Rahman et al., GRL, 35, L06805, 2008; March and Montanyà, GRL, 37, L19801, 2010; 38, L04803, 2011; Kochkin et al., J. Phys. D: Appl., 45, 425202, 2012; 48, 025205, 2015]. However, the processes behind the production of these X-rays are still not fully understood. Recently, the encounter between negative and positive streamers has been suggested as a plausible mechanism for the production of X-rays by spark discharges [Cooray et al., JASTP, 71, 1890, 2009; Kochkin et al., J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys., 45, 425202, 2012], but the increase of the electric field involved in this process is accompanied by a strong increase of the conductivity, which in turn makes this electric field collapse over a few tens of picoseconds, preventing the production of significant X-ray emissions [Ihaddadene and Celestin, GRL, 45, 5644, 2015].

Moreover, it has been reported that X-ray emission in laboratory spark discharges is influenced by the time derivative of the applied voltage [March and Montanya, GRL, 37, L19801, 2010]. Additionally, Celestin and Pasko [JGR, 116, A03315, 2011, Section 3.3] have indicated that quickly increasing applied voltages had an impact on peak electric fields in streamer numerical models.

In this work, we simulate numerically the effect of impulsive applied electric fields on the dynamics of streamer discharges in air at ground level and investigate conditions under which production of thermal runaway electrons and the associated X-rays is possible.