Metal halide lamp having function for suppressing abnormal discharge

Abstract

A metal halide lamp includes a ceramic arc tube that is composed of a main body and two narrow tube parts provided at respective ends of the main body; a pair of electrodes provided inside the main body; two feeders, each being connected at one end thereof to a different one of the electrodes inside the main body, and extending through a different one of the narrow tube parts, so as to be external to the arc tube at another end; a starting wire that is connected to one of the feeders, and that is in a vicinity of or contacts an outer surface of the arc tube; and a current suppressing unit that is on a current path of the starting wire, and suppresses or cuts off current on the path.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.