Ball lightning as a bubble of self-confined light

Abstract

It is shown that the phenomenon of self-confinement of light in a nonlinear optical medium, which is responsible for the existence of optical space solitons, can manifest itself in the form of a bubble of light in a conventional earth’s atmosphere where the air plays the role of a nonlinear optical medium. The nonlinearity is provided by the optical electrostriction pressure. Excess air pressure created by intense white light circulating in the shell of the bubble in all possible directions can be imagined as a plane lightguide, the reflective index of which increases due to the increased air density. The curvature of the lightguide is different from zero. The relationship between centrifugal forces generated by circulating light, which tend to stretch the shell, and forces that tend to compress the shell due to electrostriction pressure is analyzed. It is shown that the electrostriction pressure generated by the circulating light may be greater than the centrifugal pressure created by the same light. The difference between these pressures is equal to the air pressure, which provides an increase in the density of air and its reflective index in areas where light circulates. Earlier, we showed that bubbles of light exist in nature in the form of ball lightnings, since their paradoxical properties and behavior in the atmosphere are identical to that of bubbles of light.