Formation and development of a leader channel in air

A self-consistent model is constructed that makes it possible to investigate the formation of a leader channel in air and the evolution of the channel parameters in the developed stage, when the leader is as long as several meters or more. The initial stage of the formation of the channel is characterized by a rapid increase in the electron density and gas temperature, which is a consequence of the onset of thermal-ionizational instability. The radius of a fully developed plasma column at the current I=1 A in air at atmospheric pressure is R h≅10−2 cm. Then, because of the gas-dynamic and thermal expansion, the plasma radius R h increases considerably; as a result, the electric field and the reduced field E/N in the corresponding parts of the channel decrease. In the case under consideration, the field in the “oldest” parts of the leader drops to 200 V/cm and even lower and the reduced field becomes as weak as E/N≤10 Td. In this case, the densities of the main species of neutral and charged particles at the center of the channel remain close to their thermodynamically equilibrium values. The results of calculations are compared with the available experimental data.