On the similarity law in picosecond gas discharges

It has been shown that the product of the gas pressure p and the discharge formation time τ is unambiguously related to the reduced electric-field strength E/p for air and argon in the picosecond range of τ. This dependence was previously found for the nanosecond range. The available experimental data are satisfactorily explained in the framework of the theory of the multielectron initiation of pulsed gas discharges that was proposed in my previous works.