{"title":"Could Ball Lightning Be Magnetic Monopoles?","authors":"Karl D. StephanTexas State University","doi":"arxiv-2408.10289","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"While magnetic monopoles have extensive theoretical justification for their\nexistence, but have proved elusive to observe, ball lightning is both\nrelatively frequently observed and largely unexplained theoretically. It was\nfirst proposed in 1990 that ball lightning might result from the catalysis of\nnuclear fission by a magnetic monopole. The observed frequency of ball\nlightning does not conflict with current upper theoretical or observational\nbounds for magnetic monopole flux. Some possible mechanisms to account for the\nassociation of magnetic-monopole-caused ball lightning with thunderstorms are\ndescribed, and proposals for further observational and theoretical research are\nmade.","PeriodicalId":501270,"journal":{"name":"arXiv - PHYS - Geophysics","volume":"41 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"arXiv - PHYS - Geophysics","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/arxiv-2408.10289","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
While magnetic monopoles have extensive theoretical justification for their
existence, but have proved elusive to observe, ball lightning is both
relatively frequently observed and largely unexplained theoretically. It was
first proposed in 1990 that ball lightning might result from the catalysis of
nuclear fission by a magnetic monopole. The observed frequency of ball
lightning does not conflict with current upper theoretical or observational
bounds for magnetic monopole flux. Some possible mechanisms to account for the
association of magnetic-monopole-caused ball lightning with thunderstorms are
described, and proposals for further observational and theoretical research are
made.