Growing discharge trees with self-consistent charge transport: the collective dynamics of streamers

Abstract

We introduce the generic structure of a growth model for branched discharge trees that consistently combines a finite channel conductivity with the physical law of charge conservation. It is applicable, e.g., to streamer coronas near tip or wire electrodes and ahead of lightning leaders, to leaders themselves and to the complex breakdown structures of sprite discharges high above thunderclouds. Then we implement and solve the simplest model for positive streamers in ambient air with self-consistent charge transport. We demonstrate that charge conservation contradicts the common assumption of dielectric breakdown models that the electric fields inside all streamers are equal to the so-called stability field and we even find cases of local field inversion. We also discuss the charge distribution inside discharge trees, which provides a natural explanation for the observed reconnections of streamers in laboratory experiments and in sprites. Our simulations show the structure of an overall "streamer of streamers" that we name collective streamer front, and predict effective streamer branching angles, the charge structure within streamer trees, and streamer reconnection.

31 pages,13 figures

References in corpus (15)

• Positive and negative streamers in ambient air: modeling evolution and velocities
• The multiscale nature of streamers
• Review of recent results on streamer discharges and discussion of their relevance for sprites and lightning
• Probing photo-ionization: simulations of positive streamers in varying N2:O2 mixtures
• Experimental study of hard X-rays emitted from meter-scale positive discharges in air
• Deviations from the local field approximation in negative streamer heads
• Electron density fluctuations accelerate the branching of streamer discharges in air
• Interaction of streamers in air and other oxygen-nitrogen mixtures
• Density models for streamer discharges: beyond cylindrical symmetry and homogeneous media
• Stereo-photography of point-plane streamers in air
• Spatially hybrid computations for streamer discharges: II. Fully 3D simulations
• Reconnection and merging of positive streamers in air
• Saffman-Taylor streamers: mutual finger interaction in an electric breakdown
• Positive streamers in ambient air and a N2:O2-mixture (99.8 : 0.2)
• Derivation of a merging condition for two interacting streamers in air

Cited by in corpus (18)

• The physics of streamer discharge phenomena
• Experimental study on hard X-rays emitted from metre-scale negative discharges in air
• Radio emission from negative lightning leader steps reveals inner meter-scale structure
• Spontaneous emergence of space stems ahead of negative leaders in lightning and long sparks
• Pilot system development in metre-scale laboratory discharge
• On the emergence mechanism of carrot sprites
• Quantitative modeling of streamer discharge branching in air
• A computational study of accelerating, steady and fading negative streamers in ambient air
• Laser-induced plasma formation and cavitation in water: from nanoeffects to extreme states of matter
• A domain-decomposition method to implement electrostatic free boundary conditions in the radial direction for electric discharges
• DC-driven positive streamer coronas in airflow
• Estimating the properties of single positive air streamers from measurable parameters
• Flash ionisation signature in coherent cyclotron emission from Brown Dwarfs
• Breakthrough-Induced Loop Formation in Evolving Transport Networks
• Macroscopic parameterization of positive streamer heads in air
• Predicting Streamer Discharge Front Splitting by Ionization Seed Profiling
• Data-driven reduced modeling of streamer discharges in air
• Measuring the locations and properties of VHF sources emitted from an aircraft flying through high clouds