Possible detection of high-energy photons from ball lightning by the GROWTH (Gamma-Ray Observation of Winter Thunderclouds) experiment

M. L. Shmatov

1Ioffe Institute, Politekhnicheskaya 26, Saint Petersburg 194021, Russia
e-mail: M.Shmatov@mail.ioffe.ru

It is shown that photons of the prolonged emission recorded by the GROWTH (Gamma-Ray Observation of Winter Thunderclouds) experiment on January 13, 2012 could be emitted by ball lightning and generated by annihilation of positrons which arose mainly due to production of the β+-active isotopes by the sharp γ-ray flash, accompanying the formation of ball lightning, and production of electron-positron pairs by photons from ball lightning. The model of ball lightning is based on the assumption that ball lightning has a core consisting of clouds of electrons and almost totally ionized ions which oscillate with respect to each other.


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