Knotted structures called skyrmions seem to mimic ball lightning

Author: Emily Conover / Source: Science News

skyrmion illustration — GREAT BALL OF FIRE Scientists created a knotted structure called a skyrmion (illustrated) that mimics the magnetic fields described in a proposed theory of ball lightning, electrical orbs sometimes observed during thunderstorms.

The physics behind a weird electrical phenomenon — glowing orbs of lightning — may be mimicked by something even stranger.

A magnetic structure proposed for the natural oddity known as ball lightning makes an appearance in a newfound variety of a knotlike entity called a skyrmion, a team of scientists reports.

Typically observed during thunderstorms, ball lightning is poorly understood. Anecdotal reports describe eerily glowing spheres that float through the air for several seconds before fading (SN: 2/9/02, p. 87). That’s much longer than standard lightning strikes, which last tens of microseconds, and researchers are still struggling to explain how the fireballs persist.

One theory, proposed in the 1990s, suggests that ball lightning is a plasma held together by magnetic fields arranged in rings that link together into a knot. “Because it’s linked up in this tight way, it can’t really fall apart,” says physicist David Hall of Amherst College in Massachusetts. “That could provide a reason why ball lightning survives as long as it does.”