i often wonder this cause i have a Bare Arctube from a Regent lamp,that fires up with no problems on the Open Circuit Voltage of the ballast,without connecting the starter electrode to power..

Devonte, why are you firing up a bare arctube?  I don't know the answer to your question in this post, but I would hate to hear that you hurt yourself by playing with an unsafe lamp!

im firing up a bare Arctube to see if it still works...no need to worry about it being unsafe,im running it in a Sealed,Thick-Walled Glass Jar...i also cleaned the arctube throughly to get the fingerprints and oil off which can cause deteriation of the arctube Wall...i expect it to fail in a couple of weeks since there is oxygen in the jar which will oxidize the seals.

Yes Devonte be careful,I remember you got that nasty burn/shock from your microwave tranformer not too long ago.

thanks Brian,and Darren for your concern...but i think i have my awnser by close observation..i notice when i turn the lamp off and then back on a Dim Discharge forms between one of the main electrodes and the side of the arctube that has the most Sputtered Metal on it..this forms a conductive path through which an arc can strike on the Open Circuit Voltage of the ballast without the Aid of a Starter Electrode,intresting huh??...also without the starter electrode it takes nearly 4 times as long for the lamp to strike again after a power cut.

Auxiliary probe(s) are there to aid the ignition mainly when cold. In normal temperatures it's usually just enough OCV to start even without, but when freezing, the ignition voltage without starting probe could be twice as large.
With today's gear technology (pulse starters) this probe could be omitted, so new lamps are designed without this probe (pulse start MH, HPS), as few kV does reliably ignite the arc even at cold directly, without any start-probe. The only MV lamps using no starting probes are those UHP in projectors - they take the advantage of thermal uniformity on small seal to boost-up the operating pressure and hence the arc power loading, so CRI and brightness of the mercury discharge.