A recent study pointed out that macroscopic dark matter (macros) traversing through the Earth’s atmosphere can give rise to hot and ionized channels similar to those associated with lightning leaders. The authors of the study investigated the possibility that when such channels created by macros pass through a thundercloud, lightning leaders may be locked in by these ionized channels, creating lightning discharges with perfectly straight channels. They suggested the possibility of detecting such channels as a means of detecting the passage of macros through the atmosphere. In this paper, we show that such macros crossing the atmosphere under fair weather conditions could also give rise to mini-lightning flashes with current amplitudes in the order of a few hundred Amperes. These mini-lightning flashes would generate a thunder signature similar to or stronger than those of long laboratory sparks and they could also be detected by optical means. As in the case of thunderstorm-assisted macro lightning, these mini-lightning flashes are also associated with straight channels. Moreover, since the frequency of mini-lightning flashes is about thirty times greater than the macro-generated lightning flashes assisted by thunderstorms, they could be used as a means to look for the paths of macroscopic dark matter crossing the atmosphere.

中文翻译：

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宏观暗物质（宏）能否在没有云的蓝天中产生微型闪电？

最近的一项研究指出，穿过地球大气层的宏观暗物质（宏）会产生类似于与闪电先导者相关的热通道和电离通道。该研究的作者研究了这样一种可能性：当由宏创建的此类通道穿过雷云时，闪电引导者可能会被这些电离通道锁定，从而产生具有完美笔直通道的闪电放电。他们提出了检测此类通道的可能性，作为检测宏通过大气层的一种手段。在本文中，我们表明，在晴朗的天气条件下，这种穿越大气层的宏也可能产生电流幅度约为几百安培的微型闪电。这些微型闪电会产生类似于或强于实验室长火花的雷声信号，它们也可以通过光学手段检测到。与雷暴辅助宏观闪电的情况一样，这些微型闪电也与直通道有关。此外，由于微型闪电的频率大约是雷暴辅助下的宏观产生闪电的三十倍，因此它们可以作为寻找宏观暗物质穿越大气层路径的手段。