Researchers from CWI and KVI received funding in the FOM projectruimte for their proposal ‘Cosmic lightning’. Applicants were Ute Ebert from the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in Amsterdam and Olaf Scholten and Ad van den Berg from KVI.
The proposal involves research on cosmic particles with ultra-high energies that penetrate the Earth atmosphere, creating gigantic showers of secondary particles. In the proposed project the potential role of these particles in the creation of lightning bolts in thunderclouds will be investigated.
The project joins the expertise in the fields of lightning modelling at CWI and of cosmic particles at KVI. Apart from theoretical research on the various models, experimental research will be done with LOFAR and the Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA). The researchers acquired two positions for PhD students and a material budget of k€ 140.
Source: KVI
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