Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-5jtmz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-17T19:22:04.279Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ball lightning with the nonrelativistic electrons of the core

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2015

M. L. Shmatov
M. L. Shmatov*
Affiliation:
Ioffe Institute, 194021 St. Petersburg, Russia
*
†Email address for correspondence: M.Shmatov@mail.ioffe.ru
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The lifetimes, volume densities of energy, electron and ion densities and other parameters of ball lightning cores with the nonrelativistic electrons are estimated. The model according to which the motion of the electrons of the ball lightning core is the superposition of the oscillatory motion and the thermal motion in the directions perpendicular to those of the oscillations is proposed. Some problems related to isolation of the ball lightning core from the atmosphere and the transfer of the atmospheric pressure on it are considered.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 81 , Issue 4 , August 2015 , 905810406
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Afanas'ev, Y. V., Gamaliy, E. G. and Rozanov, V. B. 1982 The main equations of dynamics and kinetics of laser plasma. Trudy FIAN 134, 10–31 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Alekhin, B. V., Dubinov, A.E., Zhdanov, V. S., Kornilov, V. G., Mikheev, K. E., Selemir, V. D., Stepanov, N. V., Chelpanov, V. I., and Shamro, O. A. 2004 Producing a compact long-lived plasma formation. Teplofiz. Vys. Temp. 42, 843–849 (High Temp. 42, 851–857).Google Scholar
Artsimovich, L. A. 1969 Elementarnaya Fizika Plazmy (Elementary Plasma Physics), 3rd edn. Moscow: Atomizdat (in Russian).Google Scholar
Barfield, W. D., Koontz, G. D. and Huebner, W. F. 1972 Fits to new calculations of photoionization cross sections for low-Z elements. J. Quant. Spectrosc. Rad. Transfer 12, 1409–1433.Google Scholar
Basov, N. G., Lebo, I. G. and Rozanov, V. B. 1988 Fizika Lazernogo Termoyadernogo Sinteza (Physics of Laser Thermonuclear Fusion). Moscow: Znanie (in Russian).Google Scholar
Berestetskii, V. B., Lifshitz, E. M. and Pitaevskii, L. P. 1980 Kvantovaya Elektrodinamika (Quantum Electrodynamics), 2nd edn. Moscow: Nauka (in Russian).Google Scholar
Bethe, H. A. and Salpeter, E. E. 1957 Quantum Mechanics of One- and Two-Electron Atoms. Berlin, Göttingen, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Budyko, M. I. 1988 Atmosphere of Earth. In Fizicheskaya Encyclopediya (Physical Encyclopedia), Vol. 1 (ed. Prokhorov, A. M.). Moscow: Sovetskaya Encyclopediya, pp. 133–136 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Celestin, S., Xu, W. and Pasko, V. P. 2012 Terrestrial gamma ray flashes with energies up to 100 MeV produced by nonequilibrium acceleration of electrons in lightning. J. Geophys. Res. 117, A05315.Google Scholar
Cen, J., Yuan, P. and Xue, S. 2014 Observation of the optical and spectral characteristics of ball lightning. Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 035001.Google Scholar
Craxton, R. S., McCrory, R. L. and Soures, J. M. 1986 Progress in laser fusion. Sci. Am. 255 (2), 68–79.Google Scholar
Dmitriev, M. T. 1967 Nature of ball lightning. Priroda No. 6, 98–106 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Dmitriev, M. T., Bakhtin, B. I. and Martynov, V. I. 1981 Thermal effects of ball lightning. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 51, 2567–2572 (Sov. Phys. Tech. Phys. 26, 1518–1520).Google Scholar
Dvornikov, M. 2010 Formation of bound states of electrons in spherically symmetric oscillations of plasma. Phys. Scr. 81, 055502.Google Scholar
Dvornikov, M. 2011 Axially and spherically symmetric solitons in warm plasma. J. Plasma Phys. 77, 749–764.Google Scholar
Dvornikov, M. 2013 Stable Langmuir solitons in plasma with diatomic ions. Nonlin. Process. Geophys. 20, 581–588.Google Scholar
Dwyer, J. R. et al. 2004a Measurements of x-ray emission from rocket-triggered lightning. Geophys. Res. Lett. 31, L05118.Google Scholar
Dwyer, J. R. et al. 2004b A ground level gamma-ray burst observed in association with rocket-triggered lightning. Geophys. Res. Lett. 31, L05119.Google Scholar
Dwyer, J. R., Smith, D. M. and Cummer, S. A. 2012 High-energy atmospheric physics: terrestrial gamma-ray flashes and related phenomena. Space Sci. Rev. 173, 133–196.Google Scholar
Finkelstein, D. and Rubinstein, J. 1964 Ball lightning. Phys. Rev. 135, A390–A396.Google Scholar
Grigor'ev, A. I. 2006 Sharovaya Molniya (Ball Lightning). Yaroslavl': YarGU (in Russian).Google Scholar
Itikawa, Y. 2006 Cross sections for electron collisions with nitrogen molecules. J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data 35, 31–53.Google Scholar
Ivanov, M. F., Solov'ev, A. A. and Terekhin, V. A. 1975 Self-consistent problem about electric fields produced in air by a pulse of gamma quanta. Zh. Prikl. Mekh. Tekh. Fiz. (PMTF) No. 4 (92), 7–10 (J. Appl. Mechanics Tech. Phys. 16, 487–490).Google Scholar
Kompaneets, A. S. 1958 Radio emission from an atomic explosion. Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 35, 1538–1544 (1959 Sov. Phys. JETP 8, 1076–1080).Google Scholar
Korobkin, V. V. and Romanovsky, M. Yu. 1998 Scaling of plasmas heated and ponderomotively confined by powerful laser radiation. Laser Part. Beams 16, 235–252.Google Scholar
Kuznetsov, N. M. 1965 Termodinamicheskie Funktsii i Udarnye Adiabaty Vozdukha pri Vysokikh Temperaturakh (Thermodynamic Functions and Shock Adiabats of Air at High Temperatures). Moscow: Mashinostroenie (in Russian).Google Scholar
Landau, L. D. and Lifshitz, E. M. 1973 Mekhanika [Teoreticheskaya Fizika. Vol. 1] (Mechanics [Theoretical Physics. Vol. 1]), 3rd edn. Moscow: Nauka (in Russian).Google Scholar
Landau, L. D. and Lifshitz, E. M. 1974 Kvantovaya Mekhanika. Nerelyativistskaya Teoriya [Teoreticheskaya Fizika. Vol. 3] (Quantum Mechanics. Nonrelativistic Theory [Theoretical Physics. Vol. 3]), 3rd edn. Moscow: Nauka (in Russian).Google Scholar
Lotz, W. 1968 Electron-impact ionization cross-sections and ionization rate coefficients for atoms and ions from hydrogen to calcium. Z. Phys. 216, 241–247.Google Scholar
Miley, G. H., Momota, H., Shaban, Y. and Hora, H. 2001. Use of Inertial Electrostatic Plasma Confinement Device to Simulate some Aspects of Ball Lightning. Abstract of 7th Int. Symp. on Ball Lightning, ISBL'2001, 26–29 July 2001, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.Google Scholar
Ostapenko, V. I. and Tolpygo, K. B. 1984 Plasma theory of ball lightning. Ukr. Fizich. Zhurnal 29, 210–217 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Phelps, A. V. and Pitchford, L. C. 1985 Anisotropic scattering of electrons by N2 and its effect on electron transport. Phys. Rev. A 31, 2932–2949.Google Scholar
Powell, J. R. and Finkelstein, D. 1969 Structure of ball lightning. Advances in Geophysics 13 (ed. Landsberg, H. E. and Van Mieghem, J.), 141–189.Google Scholar
Powell, J. R. and Finkelstein, D. 1970 Ball lightning. Amer. Scientist 58, 262–280.Google Scholar
Raizer, Yu. P. 2009 Fizika Gazovogo Razryada (Physics of Gas Discharge), 3rd edn. Dolgoprudnyi: Izdatel'skii Dom Intellect (in Russian).Google Scholar
Ryutov, D. D. 1994 Relativistic plasma. In Fizicheskaya Encyclopediya (Physical Encyclopedia), Vol. 4 (ed. Prokhorov, A. M.), Moscow: Bol'shaya Rossiiskaya Encyclopediya, p. 333 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Shmatov, M. L. 2001 Could Richman be killed by the electrical influence of the autonomous ball lightning? Preprint of Ioffe Physical Technical Institute, 1750. St. Petersburg, Russia.Google Scholar
Shmatov, M. L. 2003 New model and estimation of the danger of ball lightning. J. Plasma Phys. 69, 507–527.Google Scholar
Shmatov, M. L. 2004 Ball lightning with energies of the order of 109 J. Proc. 8th Int. Symp. on Ball Lightning, ISBL 04, 3–6 August 2004, National Central University, Chung-Li, Taiwan (ed Liu, J.-Y., Ofuruton, H. and Kamogawa, M.). Tokyo: Daito Industrial Printing Co., Ltd., pp. 51–56.Google Scholar
Shmatov, M. L. 2006 Expected spectrum of high-energy photons from ball lightning. J. Plasma Phys. 72, 277–284.Google Scholar
Shmatov, M. L. 2008 Comment on the paper ‘Shell we be able to solve the ball lightning problem in the 21st century’ by A. I. Nikitin (Chemical Physics, 2006, vol. 25, no. 3, p. 18). Khim. Fizika 27 (2), 82–84 (in Russian).Google Scholar
Shmatov, M. L. 2011 Comment on ‘Formation of bound states of electrons in spherically symmetric oscillations of plasma’. Phys. Scr. 83, 017003.Google Scholar
Sivukhin, D. V. 1979 Termodinamika i Molekulyarnaya Fizika, Obstchii Kurs Fiziki, Vol. 2 (Thermodynamics and Molecular Physics, General Course of Physics, Vol. 2.), 2nd edn. Moscow: Nauka (in Russian).Google Scholar
Smirnov, B. M. 1992 Observational properties of ball lightning. Usp. Phys. Nauk 162 (8), 43–81 (Sov. Phys. Usp. 35, 650–670).Google Scholar
Tavani, M. et al. 2011 Terrestrial gamma-ray flashes as powerful particle accelerators. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 018501.Google Scholar
Trubnikov, B. A. 1972 On the question about the nature of ball lightning. Doklady Akad. Nauk SSSR. Geofizika 203, 1296–1298 (Geophys. – Dokl. Acad. Nauk SSSR 203, 13–14).Google Scholar
Ventzel, E. S. 1969 Teoriya Veroyatnostei (Theory of Probabilities), 4th edn. Moscow: Nauka (in Russian).Google Scholar
Vinogradov, A. V. and Shlyaptsev, V. N. 1987 Characteristics of a laser plasma x-ray source (review). Kvant. Elektron. 14, 5–26 (Sov. J. Quantum Electron. 17, 1–14).Google Scholar
Winter, M. 2014 Nitrogen: properties of free atoms. https://www.webelements.com/nitrogen/atoms.html; Oxygen: properties of free atoms. https://www.webelements.com/oxygen/atoms.html; Argon: properties of free atoms. https://www.webelements.com/argon/atoms.html.Google Scholar
Zel'dovich, Ya. B. and Raizer, Yu. P. 1966 Fizika Udarnykh Voln i Vysokotemperaturnykh Gidrodinamicheskikh Yavlenii (Physics of Shock Waves and High-Temperature Hydrodynamic Phenomena), 2nd edn. Moscow: Nauka (in Russian).Google Scholar