Gamma-ray bursts and giant lightning discharges in protoplanetary systems.

Lightning in the solar nebula is considered to be one of the probable sources for producing the chondrules that are found in meteorites. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) provide a large flux of γ-rays that Compton scatter and create a charge separation in the gas because the electrons are displaced from the positive ions. The electric field easily exceeds the breakdown value off ≈ 1 V m-1 over distances of order 0.1 AU. The energy in a giant lightning discharge exceeds a terrestrial lightning flash by a factor of ∼ 1012. The predicted post-burst emission of γ-rays from a burst lasts for days and is more probable than the GRB because the radiation is beamed into a larger solid angle. The total amount of chondrules produced is in reasonable agreement with the observations of meteorites. Furthermore in the case of GRBs most chondrules were produced in a few major melting events by nearby GRBs and lightning occurred at effectively the same time over the whole nebula, and provide accurate time markers to the formation of chondrules and evolution of the solar nebula. © 2006 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]