Abstract
We consider a self-consistent and probabilistic formulation of the classical Raether-Meek streamer inception model, and compare it with dedicated experiments. Our approach is based on the statistical evaluation of a first critical electron. This is done by evaluating the Raether-Meek integral for arbitrary starting positions of the first electron, and evaluating the size of the region in which the electrons can transition into a streamer. Then, using an ensemble-averaged model for the negative ion distribution which acts as a source of initial electrons, we compute the time-dependent probability of streamer inception. Unlike the standard Meek-based inception model, the experiments show that the generalized formulation is valid for both voltage polarities, but in return it requires knowledge about the initial ion distribution and electron detachment rate.