Finite volume solution of the relativistic Boltzmann equation for electron avalanche studies
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States). Earth and Environmental Sciences
The avalanche times, average beam energies, and bremsstrahlung production emission rates, as a function of applied electric field strength, from the kinetic theory or runaway air breakdown have been used in the modeling of upper atmosphere discharge phenomena known as red sprites, blue jets, and gamma ray flashes. The Boltzmann equation for a population of relativistic electrons in a constant external electric field in air is solved numerically in order to determine parameters of the resulting runaway electron beam. The numerical solution takes advantage of algorithms from computational fluid dynamics. This work revises the results from the original work where the numerical solution was found to be unstable.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 321013
- Journal Information:
- IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Vol. 26, Issue 5; Other Information: PBD: Oct 1998
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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