A mechanism for a sustained ball lightning glow discharge plasma at one atmosphere pressure

Summary form only given. One aspect of ball lightning physics which has been very difficult to understand is how their long duration of existence-up to 90 seconds or more-can be reconciled with the very high electron collision frequencies (several terahertz) and corresponding rapid energy loss associated with operation at one atmosphere. An insight into the sustained existence of ball lightning at one atmosphere may be afforded by the recently discovered ion-trapping mechanism responsible for the one atmosphere uniform glow discharge plasma (OAUGDP). In the laboratory, trapping is effected by the application of high RF voltages between two parallel or co-planar electrodes, with a frequency which traps ions but not the electrons between the electrodes. Trapping the electrons leads to polarization of the plasma and to the development of filamentary instabilities. In ball lightning, this RF electrostatic trapping may be replaced by other mechanisms which preferentially trap ions, but not electrons, on magnetic field lines.