Distributions of the formative time delay in argon and synthetic air at low pressure

The determination of the formative time delay of electric breakdown is a complex problem due to its stochastic nature. Several methods based on the extreme values are used in the literature. However, there is the limit of applicability of this method due to low preionization level, since the breakdown initiation would not be immediate. In this paper, we propose a new methodology for the determination of the distribution of the formative time delay and discuss its application. The proposed method is applied for determination of formative time delay distribution in argon and synthetic air at low pressure and results are compared to theoretical predictions.