Daniel Shy

Thunderstorms emit fluxes of gamma rays known as gamma-ray glows^1,2, sporadically observed by aircraft^1,3,4,5,6,7, balloons^8,9,10,11 and from the ground^{12,13,14,15,16,17,18}. Observations report increased gamma-ray emissions by tens of percent up to two orders of magnitude above the background, sometimes abruptly terminated by lightning discharges^1,3,4,5. Glows are produced by the acceleration of energetic electrons in high-electric-field regions within thunderclouds⁸ and contribute to charge dissipation³. Glows had been considered as quasi-stationary phenomena^3,5,12, with durations up to a few tens of seconds and spatial scales up to 10–20 km. However, no measurements of the full extension in space and time of a gamma-ray-glow region and their occurring frequency have been reported so far. Here we show that tropical thunderclouds over ocean and coastal regions commonly emit gamma rays for hours over areas up to a few thousand square kilometres. Emission is associated with deep convective cores; it is not uniform and continuous but shows characteristic timescales of 1–10 s and even subsecond for individual glows. The dynamics of gamma-glowing thunderclouds strongly contradicts the quasi-stationary picture of glows and instead resembles that of a huge gamma-glowing ‘boiling pot’ in both pattern and behaviour.

Two different hard-radiation phenomena are known to originate from thunderclouds: terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs)¹ and gamma-ray glows². Both involve an avalanche of electrons accelerated to relativistic energies but are otherwise different. Glows are known to last for one to hundreds of seconds, have moderate intensities and originate from quasi-stationary thundercloud fields^2,3,4,5. TGFs exhibit high intensities and have characteristic durations of tens to hundreds of microseconds^6,7,8,9. TGFs often show a close association with an emission of strong radio signals^{10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17} and optical pulses^18,19,20,21, which indicates the involvement of lightning leaders in their generation. Here we report unique observations of a different phenomenon, which we call flickering gamma-ray flashes (FGFs). FGFs resemble the usual multi-pulse TGFs^22,23,24 but have more pulses and each pulse has a longer duration than ordinary TGFs. FGF durations span from 20 to 250 ms, which reaches the lower boundary of the gamma-ray glow duration. FGFs are radio and optically silent, which makes them distinct from normal TGFs. An FGF starts as an ordinary gamma-ray glow, then suddenly increases exponentially in intensity and turns into an unstable, ‘flickering’ mode with a sequence of pulses. FGFs could be the missing link between the gamma-ray glows and conventional TGFs, whose absence has been puzzling the atmospheric electricity community for two decades.

The cadmium zinc TElluride Radiation Imager, or TERI, is an instrument to space-qualify large-volume 4×4×1.5 cm3 pixelated CdZnTe (CZT) detector technology. The CZT’s anode is composed of a 22×22 array of pixels, whereas the cathode is planar. TERI contains four of those crystals with each pixel having an energy range of 40 keV up to 3 MeV with a resolution of 1.3% full-width-at-half maximum at 662 keV all while operating in room temperature. As the detectors are 3D position sensitive, TERI can Compton image events. TERI is fitted with a coded-aperture mask, which permits imaging of low-energy photons in the photoelectric regime. TERI’s primary mission is to space-qualify large-volume CZT and measure its degradation due to radiation damage in a space environment. Its secondary mission includes detecting and localizing astrophysical gamma-ray transients. TERI is manifested in the Department of Defense’s STP-H10 mission for launch to the International Space Station in early 2025.

Terrestrial Gamma‐ray Flashes (TGFs) are ten‐to‐hundreds of microsecond bursts of gamma‐rays produced when electrons in strong electric fields in thunderclouds are accelerated to relativistic energies. Space instruments have observed TGFs with source photon brightness down to ∼10¹⁷–10¹⁶. Based on space and aircraft observations, TGFs have been considered rare phenomena produced in association with very few lightning discharges. Space observations associated with lightning ground observations in the radio band have indicated that there exists a population of dimmer TGFs. Here we show observations of TGFs from aircraft altitude that were not detected by a space instrument viewing the same area. The TGFs were found through Monte Carlo modeling to be associated with 10¹⁵–10¹² photons at source, which is several orders of magnitude below what can be seen from space. Our results suggest that there exists a significant population of TGFs that are too weak to be observed from space.

Many questions posed in the Astro2020 Decadal survey in both the New Messengers and New Physics and the Cosmic Ecosystems science themes require a gamma-ray mission with capabilities exceeding those of existing (e.g. Fermi, Swift) and planned (e.g. COSI) observatories. ComPair, the Compton Pair telescope, is a prototype of such a next-generation gamma-ray mission. It had its inaugural balloon flight from Ft. Sumner, New Mexico in August 2023. To continue the goals of the ComPair project to develop technologies that will enable a future gamma-ray mission, the next generation of ComPair (ComPair-2) will be upgraded to increase the sensitivity and low-energy transient capabilities of the instrument. These advancements are enabled by AstroPix, a silicon monolithic active pixel sensor, in the tracker and custom dual-gain silicon photomultipliers and front-end electronics in the calorimeter. This effort builds on design work for the All-sky Medium Energy Gamma-ray Observatory eXplorer (AMEGO-X) concept that was submitted the 2021 MIDEX Announcement of Opportunity. Here we describe the ComPair-2 prototype design and integration and testing plans to advance the readiness level of these novel technologies.