Isotope production in thunderstorms

Thunderstorms and lightnings are natural particle accelerator systems. Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, caused by relativistic runaway electron avalanches, produce bursts of $X$ and $γ$ rays, energetic enough to produce photo-nuclear reactions within the atmosphere. Such reactions cause the generation of new isotopes, which modify the air composition locally and produce new ways of detecting and characterizing this high-energy phenomena. In this work we explore, using the general purpose Monte Carlo transport code FLUKA, the production of secondaries after a Terrestrial gamma-ray flash and analyze the generation of new isotopes in detail. Their abundance, time and energy profiles are studied, which can be useful for establishing new measuring strategies.

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