Lightning-related cosmic ray air shower flashes detected by LHAASO-KM2A

Cao Z.; Aharonian F.; Bai Y.X.; Bao Y.W.; Bastieri D.; Bi X.J.; Bi Y.J.; Bian W.; Bukevich A.V.; Cai C.M.; Cao W.Y.; Chang J.; Chang J.F.; Chen A.M.; Chen E.S.; Chen G.H.; Chen H.X.; Chen L.; Chen M.J.; Chen M.L.; Chen Q.H.; Chen S.; Chen S.H.; Chen S.Z.; Chen T.L.; Chen X.B.; Chen X.J.; Chen Y.; Cheng N.; Cheng Y.D.; Chu M.C.; Cui M.Y.; Cui S.W.; Cui X.H.; Cui Y.D.; Dai B.Z.; Dai H.L.; Dai Z.G.; Danzengluobu; Diao Y.X.; Dong X.Q.; Duan K.K.; Fan J.H.; Fan Y.Z.; Fang J.; Fang J.H.; Fang K.; Feng C.F.; Feng H.; Feng L.; Feng S.H.; Feng X.T.; Feng Y.; Feng Y.L.; Gabici S.; Gao B.; Gao C.D.; Gao Q.; Gao W.; Gao W.K.; Ge M.M.; Ge T.T.; Geng L.S.; Giacinti G.; Gong G.H.; Gou Q.B.; Gu M.H.; Guo F.L.; Guo J.; Guo X.L.; Guo Y.Q.; Guo Y.Y.; Han Y.A.; Hannuksela O.A.; Hasan M.; He H.H.; He H.N.; He J.Y.; He X.Y.; He Y.; Hernández-Cadena S.; Hou B.W.; Hou C.; Hou X.; Hu H.B.; Hu S.C.; Huang C.; Huang D.H.; Huang J.J.; Huang T.Q.; Huang W.J.; Huang X.T.; Huang X.Y.; Huang Y.; Huang Y.Y.; Ji X.L.; Jia H.Y.; Jia K.

Lightning-related cosmic ray air shower flashes detected by LHAASO-KM2A

7

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2025-12-30

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Conference Paper

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18248039

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10.22323/1.501.0279

item.page.dc.identifier.scopus

2-s2.0-105029004425

item.page.oaire.citation.title

Proceedings of Science

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501

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SCOPUS

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Proceedings of Science Vol.501 (2025)

punsarn.item.page.citation

Cao Z., Aharonian F., Bai Y.X., Bao Y.W., Bastieri D., Bi X.J., Bi Y.J., Bian W., Bukevich A.V., Cai C.M., Cao W.Y., Cao Z., Chang J., Chang J.F., Chen A.M., Chen E.S., Chen G.H., Chen H.X., Chen L., Chen L., Chen M.J., Chen M.L., Chen Q.H., Chen S., Chen S.H., Chen S.Z., Chen T.L., Chen X.B., Chen X.J., Chen Y., Cheng N., Cheng Y.D., Chu M.C., Cui M.Y., Cui S.W., Cui X.H., Cui Y.D., Dai B.Z., Dai H.L., Dai Z.G., Danzengluobu, Diao Y.X., Dong X.Q., Duan K.K., Fan J.H., Fan Y.Z., Fang J., Fang J.H., Fang K., Feng C.F., Feng H., Feng L., Feng S.H., Feng X.T., Feng Y., Feng Y.L., Gabici S., Gao B., Gao C.D., Gao Q., Gao W., Gao W.K., Ge M.M., Ge T.T., Geng L.S., Giacinti G., Gong G.H., Gou Q.B., Gu M.H., Guo F.L., Guo J., Guo X.L., Guo Y.Q., Guo Y.Y., Han Y.A., Hannuksela O.A., Hasan M., He H.H., He H.N., He J.Y., He X.Y., He Y., Hernández-Cadena S., Hou B.W., Hou C., Hou X., Hu H.B., Hu S.C., Huang C., Huang D.H., Huang J.J., Huang T.Q., Huang W.J., Huang X.T., Huang X.Y., Huang Y., Huang Y.Y., Ji X.L., Jia H.Y., Jia K. Lightning-related cosmic ray air shower flashes detected by LHAASO-KM2A. Proceedings of Science Vol.501 (2025). doi:10.22323/1.501.0279 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/114880

item.page.dc.title

Lightning-related cosmic ray air shower flashes detected by LHAASO-KM2A

item.page.dc.contributor.author

Cao Z.
Aharonian F.
Bai Y.X.
Bao Y.W.
Bastieri D.
Bi X.J.
Bi Y.J.
Bian W.
Bukevich A.V.
Cai C.M.
Cao W.Y.
Cao Z.
Chang J.
Chang J.F.
Chen A.M.
Chen E.S.
Chen G.H.
Chen H.X.
Chen L.
Chen L.
Chen M.J.
Chen M.L.
Chen Q.H.
Chen S.
Chen S.H.
Chen S.Z.
Chen T.L.
Chen X.B.
Chen X.J.
Chen Y.
Cheng N.
Cheng Y.D.
Chu M.C.
Cui M.Y.
Cui S.W.
Cui X.H.
Cui Y.D.
Dai B.Z.
Dai H.L.
Dai Z.G.
Danzengluobu
Diao Y.X.
Dong X.Q.
Duan K.K.
Fan J.H.
Fan Y.Z.
Fang J.
Fang J.H.
Fang K.
Feng C.F.
Feng H.
Feng L.
Feng S.H.
Feng X.T.
Feng Y.
Feng Y.L.
Gabici S.
Gao B.
Gao C.D.
Gao Q.
Gao W.
Gao W.K.
Ge M.M.
Ge T.T.
Geng L.S.
Giacinti G.
Gong G.H.
Gou Q.B.
Gu M.H.
Guo F.L.
Guo J.
Guo X.L.
Guo Y.Q.
Guo Y.Y.
Han Y.A.
Hannuksela O.A.
Hasan M.
He H.H.
He H.N.
He J.Y.
He X.Y.
He Y.
Hernández-Cadena S.
Hou B.W.
Hou C.
Hou X.
Hu H.B.
Hu S.C.
Huang C.
Huang D.H.
Huang J.J.
Huang T.Q.
Huang W.J.
Huang X.T.
Huang X.Y.
Huang Y.
Huang Y.Y.
Ji X.L.
Jia H.Y.
Jia K.

item.page.oairecerif.author.affiliation

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Tsinghua University
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Sun Yat-Sen University
University of Science and Technology of China
Université Paris Cité
Shandong University
Nanjing University
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Zhengzhou University
Southwest Jiaotong University
Yunnan University
Guangzhou University
Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
National Astronomical Observatories Chinese Academy of Sciences
Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik
Hebei Normal University
Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Yerevan State University
China Center of Advanced Science and Technology World Laboratory
Zhejiang Lab
Purple Mountain Observatory Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shanghai Astronomical Observatory Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yunnan Observatories
Tibet University
State Key Laboratory of Particle Detection & Electronics
TIANFU Cosmic Ray Research Center
School of Physics

item.page.dc.contributor.correspondence

Cao Z.

item.page.dc.contributor.other

Mahidol University

item.page.dc.description.abstract

Lightning is a common electrical discharge phenomenon in the atmosphere, which involves processes of lightning leader and return stroke. The strength of the atmospheric electric field (AEF) in the leader can be up to 3000-4000 V/cm. In such a strong field, the relativistic runaway electron avalanche (RREA) mechanism could be initiated by the secondary electrons in extensive air shower (EAS). A large number of electrons and bremsstrahlung photons are produced in RREA process. These particles associated with downward lightning leader can be detected by ground-based experiments. As a sub-array of LHAASO, KM2A contains 5216 electromagnetic particle detectors (EDs) and 1188 muon detectors (MDs). The high altitude of LHAASO (4410 m a.s.l.) and the large area of KM2A (1.3 km<sup>2</sup>), made LHAASO-KM2A suitable to study the lightning-related cosmic ray air shower flashes (referred as TGF-like, similar to the TGF detected by satellite-based experiment). In this work, by analyzing the KM2A data and the information about thunderstorm/lightning at LHAASO site, the characteristics of candidate TGF-like events (such as intensity variations and spatiotemporal distributions) are studied. It can be found that the flux increases abruptly. The temporal distribution becomes notably broader, with several hundred microseconds in duration. The spatial distribution becomes diffuse, even covering the entire KM2A array. These results offer valuable insights into the variation of KM2A data, and provide important information to study the lightning flashes in the atmosphere.