TOROIDAL CURRENT LAYER IN A PLASMA VORTEX AS A POSSIBLE BASIS FOR BALL LIGHTNING

The hypothesis that the ball lightning is a toroidal current layer with collectivized relativistic electrons in a plasma vortex surrounded by a glowing gas-dust shell is considered. It is shown that ball lightning can be formed only with a positive discharge of streak lighting with a current of 400 kA or more. The theoretical estimation of the ball lightning lifetime, consistent with the observational data, is obtained. The conditions, under which ball lightning can be radioactive, are found.