Comparison of the stabilities of a soap bubble and the ball lightning in the form of a bubble of light

• Published in: Optik (Stuttgart) 2020-10, Vol.219, p.165095, Article 165095
• Main Author: Torchigin, V.P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis of stability; Ball lightning; Centrifugal pressure; Circulating light; Electrostriction pressure; Optical space soliton
• ISSN: 0030-4026; 1618-1336
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijleo.2020.165095

A bubble of circulating light is an optical model of natural ball lightning. We show that the bubble of light consisting of a thin spherical shell of highly compressed air, in which intense white light circulates in all possible directions, can be stable at various proportions between the energies of light and compressed air. Correctness of the model is based on the numerous evidence that its behavior in the terrestrial atmosphere coincides completely with the intriguing and mysterious behavior of ball lightnings. We believe that natural ball lightnings can be considered as an experimental confirmation of an existence of bubbles of light. Because of this an analysis of stability of the model is a task with known in advance answer. At the same time, the scientific community has great doubts about the existence of bubbles of light in nature, because no one has studied such objects either theoretically or experimentally. The article is intended mainly for specialists in optics. Since the issues of stability of circulating light are not included in the range of basic issues of modern optics, a discussion of these issues is presented in detail. For this purpose, an analysis of stability of an ordinary soap bubble, the stability of which is not in doubt, is preliminary presented. Then the same concepts, methods, and notation are used to prove the stability of the bubble of light.