Terrestrial gamma-ray flash

A terrestrial gamma-ray flash (TGF) is a burst of gamma rays produced in Earth's atmosphere. TGFs have been recorded to last 0.2 to 3.5 milliseconds, and have energies of up to 20 million electronvolts. It is speculated that TGFs are caused by intense electric fields produced above or inside thunderstorms. Scientists have also detected energetic positrons and electrons produced by terrestrial gamma-ray flashes.

Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes were first discovered in 1994 by BATSE, or Burst and Transient Source Experiment, on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory, a NASA spacecraft. A subsequent study from Stanford University in 1996 linked a TGF to an individual lightning strike occurring within a few milliseconds of the TGF. BATSE detected only a small number of TGF events in nine years (76), due to its having been constructed to study gamma ray bursts from outer space, which last much longer.

The newer RHESSI satellite has observed TGFs with much higher energies than those recorded by BATSE. In addition, the new observations show that approximately 50 TGFs occur each day, more than previously thought but still only representing a very small fraction of the total lightning on Earth (3-4 million lightning events per day on average). However, the number may be much higher than that due to the possibility of flashes in the form of narrow beams that would be difficult to detect, or the possibility that a large number of TGFs may be generated at altitudes too low for the gamma rays to escape the atmosphere.

Though the details of the mechanism are uncertain, there is a consensus forming about the physical requirements. It is presumed that TGF photons are emitted by electrons traveling at speeds very close to the speed of light that collide with the nuclei of atoms in the air and release their energy in the form of gamma rays (bremsstrahlung ). Large populations of energetic electrons can form by avalanche growth driven by electric fields, a phenomenon called relativistic runaway electron avalanche (RREA). The electric field is likely provided by lightning, as most TGFs have been shown to occur within a few milliseconds of a lightning event (Inan et al. 1996). Beyond this basic picture the details are uncertain. Recent research has shown that electron-electron (Bremsstrahlung) leads first to an enrichment of high-energy electrons and subsequently enlarges the number of high-energy photons.

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