Igniter for igniting a fuel-air-mixture using hf corona discharge and engine fitted with such igniters

An igniter for igniting a fuel-air-mixture in a combustion chamber, in particular in a combustion engine with one or several combustion chambers, by generating a high frequency corona discharge, said ignitiger comprising an assembly comprising an ignition electrode, an outer conductor surrounding the ignition electrode, which has a front end and a rear end, and an electrical insulator arranged between the ignition electrode and the outer conductor, wherein the ignition electrode is part of an electrical high-frequency resonant circuit, protrudes over the front end of the outer conductor, and is connected to an alternate current source or alternate voltage source which feeds the HF-resonant circuit and delivers a high frequency alternate current or a high frequency alternate voltage, respectively, wherein the ignition electrode is branched into more than four electrode branches extending away from the outer conductor, in different directions such that any two electrode branches are farthest apart from one another at their pointed ends and the solid angles between the directions to which any two neighboring electrode branches point with their pointed ends are so large that charge carrier clouds caused by HF-corona discharges and coming out of the electrode branches overlap at most in their edge regions.