In one minute

Maxim Dvornikov studies nano-sized spherical plasma structures made of radial nonlinear oscillations of electrons. Exchange interactions between charged particles play an important role in the dynamics of quantum plasmas. In such plasmas the electrons must be treated quantum mechanically, while ions can behave classically. He describes how these plasmoids interact through quantum exchange forces between ions and calculates the interaction energy in a dense plasma. Where the exchange interaction is attractive, separate plasmoids can merge into a single object. The results are applied to stable atmospheric plasma structures, including a model of ball lightning built from several independently oscillating kernels.

Quantum exchange interaction of spherically symmetric plasmoids