Secondary electron current in a homogeneous medium in the presence of weak external electric and magnetic fields

In many cases in studies of the physical effects accompanying the propagation of pulsed gamma rays in air it is important to know the time dependences of the secondary electron current. These relationships have been studied adequately in the absence of external fields. It is well known that in the presence of electromagnetic fields the secondary electron current may change appreciably due to the appearance of a component of the current that is perpendicular to the direction of the radiation beam. The main regularities of this phenomenon cannot be established on the basis of the available data. The purpose of the present investigation is to obtain and analyze the systematic data pertaining to the secondary electron current in air irradiated by a homogeneous directed pulsed photon beam in the presence of weak external static electric and/or magnetic fields