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Gamma-ray localization of terrestrial gamma-ray flashes
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- ResearcherID
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Abstract
- Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes (TGFs) are very short bursts of high energy photons and electrons originating in Earth's atmosphere. We present here a localization study of TGFs carried out at gamma-ray energies above 20 MeV based on an innovative event selection method. We use the AGILE satellite Silicon Tracker data that for the first time have been correlated with TGFs detected by the AGILE Mini-Calorimeter. We detect 8 TGFs with gamma-ray photons of energies above 20 MeV localized by the AGILE gamma-ray imager with an accuracy of 5-10 degrees at 50 MeV. Remarkably, all TGF-associated gamma rays are compatible with a terrestrial production site closer to the sub-satellite point than 400 km. Considering that our gamma rays reach the AGILE satellite at 540 km altitude with limited scattering or attenuation, our measurements provide the first precise direct localization of TGFs from space.<br />Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, available at http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v105/i12/e128501
- Subjects :
- Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Physics
Agile
Photon
business.industry
Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Attenuation
Gamma ray
FOS: Physical sciences
General Physics and Astronomy
minicalorimeter
terrestrial gamma-ray flashes
Astrophysics
Electromagnetic radiation
Particle detector
Semiconductor detector
Physics - Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Atmosphere of Earth
Optics
Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics (physics.ao-ph)
Satellite
business
Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Subjects
Details
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- OpenAIRE
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- ResearcherID
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....d842d4531a2129076aa91cdc2fa02059