Simulation of high power electrical atmospheric discharges using medium energy proton accelerators

An experiment is proposed to create conditions for the occurrence of electrical atmospheric discharges by irradiating a neutral rain cloud with a flow of high-energy protons. It is shown that such an approach can eliminate problems in existing methods of lightning research, allowing one to observe the natural development of its leader at a given time and in a given area of the earth's surface. Estimates are made of the size and density of the rain cloud, the possibility of transporting protons through the atmosphere and their accumulation on the cloud, the irradiation time, and the amount of charge that must be imparted to the cloud to form an electrical breakdown in the atmosphere. The calculation results show that the proposed model can be implemented in practice.