Despite being one of the most familiar and widely recognized natural phenomena, lightning
remains relatively poorly understood. Even the most basic questions of how lightning is …

It is now well established that both thunderclouds and lightning routinely emit x-rays and
gamma-rays. These emissions appear over wide timescales, ranging from sub-microsecond …

By modifying the avalanche mode of runaway breakdown to include positive feedback from
gamma‐rays and positrons, it is found that enormous bursts of energetic radiation can be …

Streamers are thin filamentary plasmas that can initiate spark discharges in relatively short
(several centimeters) gaps at near ground pressures and are also known to act as the …

Relative motion between two contacting surfaces can produce visible light, called
triboluminescence. This concentration of diffuse mechanical energy into electromagnetic …

Electrospinning has enabled creation of excellent materials for a great number of
applications. Previously, it was based on less productive capillary spinners. The present …

In the present paper, we demonstrate that the exponential expansion of streamers
propagating in fields higher than the critical fields for stable propagation of streamers of a …

As thunderclouds charge, the large‐scale fields may approach the relativistic feedback
threshold, above which the production of relativistic runaway electron avalanches becomes …

X‐ray and electric field measurements were made during five nearby negative natural
lightning strikes in north central Florida during the summer of 2004. The observed X‐ray …

The source of terrestrial gamma‐ray flashes (TGFs) has remained a mystery since their
discovery in 1994. Recent Reuven Ramaty High‐Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager …