KIPAC Tea Talk, Speaker: Ashot Chilingarian (Yerevan Physics Institute)

Thunderstorm Correlated Fluxes of electrons, Gammas and Neutrons Observed at Mountain Altitudes

A.    Chilingarian, A.Daryan, K.Arakelyan, A.Hovhannisyan, B.Mailyan,  L.Melkumyan,
G.Hovsepyan, S.Chilinaryan, N.Bostanjyan, A.Reymers
Yerevan Physics Institute, Alikhanyan Brothers 2, Yerevan 36, Armenia

Abstract
The cosmic rays ionize enough of the atmosphere to be questioned as possible triggers of the thunderstorms. A mechanism proposed by A. Gurevich and his collaborators suggest that showers of energetic particles produced by high-energy cosmic rays in the terrestrial atmosphere might provide a conductive path that initiates lightning. The positive feedback effect can increase the flux of electrons and photons by a factor of trillions. The Aragats Space Environment Center facilities are routinely measuring fluxes of neutral and charged cosmic rays incident the earth’s surface. In 2009 we detect simultaneous very large count rate enhancements of electrons, gamma-quanta and neutrons correlated with thunderstorm activity. During the period of the count rate enhancements lasting tens of minutes, millions of additional particles were detected. The energy spectra of electrons and gamma-quanta are rapidly falling and vanish at ~ 40 MeV. Here we show that our measurements support the Relativistic Feedback Breakdown, (RFB) mechanism operated in the atmosphere during the thunderstorms.