Partial discharges, streamers and trees in condensed matter

Both partial discharges and streamers have been studied in detail but no connection has been established between the two phenomena. In the present paper such a connection is established and it is shown that streamers are the most probable location of partial discharges. In solid dielectrics, imperfections at the metal/dielectric interface might also contribute to the observed partial discharge channels. The significance of these observations is discussed in detail.