Comment on "Straight lightning as a signature of macroscopic dark matter"

• In the discussed paper [N. Starkman, H. Winch, J. S. Sidhu, and G. Starkman, Straight lightning as a signature of macroscopic dark matter, Phys. Rev. D 103, 063024 (2021)], the authors have made several assumptions and statements concerning the initiation and propagation of lightning flashes induced by macroscopic dark matter passing through the atmosphere. The authors suggest that the path of dark matter can be identified by looking for lightning with straight channels, although such channels have not been previously reported. Even though we agree with the suggestion of the authors that macroscopic dark matter could, in theory, give rise to straight lightning channels, there are several statements in the paper that are not sufficiently clear and which could lead to misinterpretation. Our comments on the paper are the following.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

art (subject category)