Publication:
Ball lightning as a force-free magnetic knot

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Full text at PDC
Publication Date
2000-11
Advisors (or tutors)
Editors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
American Physical Soc.
Citations
Google Scholar
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Abstract
The stability of fireballs in a recent model of ball lightning is studied. It is shown that the balls shine while relaxing in:in almost quiescent expansion, and that three effects contribute to their stability: (i) the formation in each one during a process of Taylor relaxation of a force-free magnetic field, a concept introduced in 1954 in order to explain the existence of large magnetic fields and currents in stable configurations of astrophysical plas,nas; (ii) the so called Alfven conditions in magnetohydrodynamics; and (iii) the approximate conservation of the helicity integral. The force-free fields that appear are termed "knots" because their magnetic lines are closed and linked.
Description
© 2000 The American Physical Society. We are grateful to M. V. Berry, F. Blanco, D. Bouwmeester, D. K. Callebaut, A. Ibort, J. M. Montesinos, S. Singer, A. Tiemblo, and T. Tuomi for suggestions and encouragement.
Keywords
Citation
[1] S. Singer, The Nature of Ball Lightning, Plenum Press, New York, 1971. [2] J.D. Barry, Ball and Bead Lightning, Plenum Press, New York, 1980. [3] M.A. Uman, Lightning, Dover, New York, 1984. [4] The Science of Ball Lightning, edited by Y.H. Ohtsuki, World Scientific, Singapore, 1989. [5] M. Stenhoff, Ball Lightning. An Unsolved Problem in Atmospheric Physics, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1999. [6] Proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Ball Lightning (ISBL99), edited by G. C. Dijkhuis, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, 1999. [7] Balls of Fire, Recent Research in Ball Lightning, edited by S. Singer, Springer Verlag, Berlin, in press. [8] A.F. Rañada and J.L. Trueba, Nature, London, 383, 32, 1996. [9] A.F. Rañada, M. Soler, and J.L. Trueba, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 23, 309, 1998. [10] K. Lust and A. Schlute, Z. Astrophys., 34, 263,1954. [11] I. Alexeff and M. Rader, Fusion Technol., 27, 271, 1995. [12] A.F. Rañada, J. Phys. A, 23, L815, 1990. [13] A.F. Rañada, Lett. Math. Phys., 18, 97, 1989. --- A.F. Rañada, J. Phys. A, 25, 1621, 1992. [14] A.F. Rañada and J.L. Trueba, Phys. Lett., 202A, 337 1995; 232A, 25, 1997. [15] H.K. Moffatt, J. Fluid Mech., 35, 117, 1969. [16] A.F. Rañada, Eur. J. Phys., 13, 70, 1992. [17] C.L. Rousculp and R.L. Stenzel, Phys. Rev. Lett., 79, 837, 1997. [18] R.L. Ricca, D.C. Samuels, and C.F. Barenghi, J. Fluid Mech., 391, 29, 1999. [19] G. Marsh, Force Free Magnetic Fields: Solutions, Topology and Applications, World Scientific, Singapore, 1996. [20] S. Chandrasekhar and L. Woltjer, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 44, 285, 1958; L. Woltjer, ibid. 44, 489, 1958. [21] D. Voslamber and D.K. Callebaut, Phys. Rev., 128, 2016, 1962. [22] D.K. Callebaut, private communication. [23] J.B. Taylor, Rev. Mod. Phys., 58, 741, 1986. [24] D.L. Evans and R.S. Tankin, Phys. Fluids, 10, 1137, 1967. [25] H. Raether, Z. Phys., 112, 464, 1939. [26] I. Gallimberti, Pure Appl. Chem., 60, 663, 1988. [27] B.M. Smirnov, Phys. Rep., 188, 1, 1990. [28] Y.H. Ohtsuki and H. Ofuruton, Nature, London, 350, 139, 1991.
Collections