A Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flash with an Asymmetric Footprint Observed at the Pierre Auger Observatory

Abstract

The Pierre Auger Observatory, a $3000km^2$ detector array that sits 1400m above sea level in Argentina, has the ability to map the entire footprint of Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs), which are short, intense bursts of gamma rays associated with lightning. This is in contrast to the vast majority of TGF detections that only occur in a single detector in space. In this paper we leverage this capability to perform two important analyses on an event from 2007, chosen for its large footprint and high signal quality. First, we triangulate the source of the TGF to $2.3\pm0.5$km height above ground level using the arrival time of the gamma rays themselves at the detector array, independently of any information regarding the lightning channel. With the source position established, we can analyze the spatial distribution of the TGF on the ground with respect to that source. Not only do we find that one side of the TGF footprint shows an order of magnitude higher flux than the other, but we also find an asymmetric azimuthal structure consisting of two clear peaks in intensity. These peaks are offset by about $120^o$ from each other. This azimuthal structure is not possible under the traditional uniform electric-field model of a TGF. Using Geant4 simulations of collimated beams of the relativistic runaway electron-avalanche spectrum, we attempt to reconstruct the source geometry of the TGF and find that it likely had significant components in the $\theta > 75^o$ range, where $\theta$ is the off-nadir angle.