A Straight Lightning Bolt?! Observation of a Predicted Macro Dark Matter Signature

TL;DR

This paper reports the observation of straight lightning flashes in Australia, which could be a signature of macro dark matter passing through the atmosphere, offering a novel potential detection method for dark matter.

Contribution

It presents observational evidence of straight lightning that aligns with predictions of macro dark matter signatures, providing a new avenue for dark matter detection.

Findings

Observed straight lightning flashes in Australia.

Proposed straight lightning as a macro dark matter signature.

Discussed alternative explanations and their limitations.

Abstract

Recently, four remarkably straight very brief flashes of light were captured on video in Perth, Australia within 0.5s of one another. Straight lightning was recently identified as a prediction of macroscopic dark matter (macros) -- a broad class of alternative candidates to particle dark matter. A sufficiently large macro passing through the atmosphere producing a straight column ofplasma would produce fluorescence, or, under atmospheric conditions conducive to lightning, seeda very straight lightning strike visible to the naked eye. Other explanations are considered, but areproblematic.