Observational Studies of Photonuclear Reactions Triggered by Lightning Discharges

This book presents the first simultaneous detection of neutrons and positrons after a terrestrial gamma-ray flash (TGF), a highest-energy transient phenomenon on the earth, triggered by a lightning discharge, based on innovative ground-based observations made in the Hokuriku area of Japan. TGFs, known to be produced by lightning discharges since the 1990s, has been theoretically predicted to react with atmospheric nuclei via photonuclear reactions because they comprise high-energy photons o...