>> “This was so strange that we sat on this observation for several years”<p>>> "We tried for five years to model the production of the positrons"<p>Why would a scientist withhold data for 6 years? How typical is it for scientists to not reveal data until they can explain it using current models? I would think that Dwyer would have rushed to publicize such fascinating results.
This is fascinating. I've only ever really though of antimatter forming in the early universe, at the edges of black holes, and in particle accelerators. I love the thought of them forming in thunderclouds as well, and I'm quite curious to hear about the followup investigations.
I've followed (lightly) this phenomena from the first time I read about it with the FERMI project at NASA [1]. The common attribute seems to be that given a strong enough electric field you can pull apart some particles.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/fermi-thunderstorms.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/fermi-thunderst...</a>