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Investigating multiple ELVES and halos above strong lightning with the fluorescence detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory

  • Pierre Auger Collaboration

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

ELVES are being studied since 2013 with the twenty-four FD Telescopes of the Pierre Auger Observatory, in the province of Mendoza (Argentina), the world’s largest facility for the study of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. This study exploits a dedicated trigger and extended readout. Since December 2020, this trigger has been extended to the three High Elevation Auger Telescopes (HEAT), which observe the night sky at elevation angles between 30 and 60 degrees, allowing a study of ELVES from closer lightning. The high time resolution of the Auger telescopes allows us to upgrade reconstruction algorithms and to do detailed studies on multiple ELVES. The origin of multiple elves can be studied by analyzing the time difference and the amplitude ratio between flashes and comparing them with the properties of radio signals detected by the ENTLN lightning network since 2018. A fraction of multi-ELVES can also be interpreted as halos following ELVES. Halos are disc-shaped light transients emitted at 70-80 km altitudes, appearing at the center of the ELVES rings, due to the rearrangement of electric charges at the base of the ionosphere after a strong lightning event.

Original languageAmerican English
Article number372
JournalProceedings of Science
Volume444
StateIndexed - 27 Sep 2024
Externally publishedYes
Event38th International Cosmic Ray Conference, ICRC 2023 - Nagoya, Japan
Duration: 26 Jul 20233 Aug 2023

Bibliographical note

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© Copyright owned by the author(s) under the terms of the Creative Commons.

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