Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Mechanisms of the formation of runaway electron beams at the initial stage of breakdown in a gasfilled diode with sharply inhomogeneous electric field have been studied by numerical simulations using a specially developed PIC/MC code. It is established that a beam of runaway electrons can be generated either immediately at the cathode or at a discharge plasma boundary. The obtained dependence of the runaway electron beam current on the state of the cathode surface (emissivity) has the characteristic shape.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Shklyaev et al. (2011) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 10 related papers. Consider them for comparative context: