Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-particle-physics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2016/7/1/solution

Cherenkov radiation is coherent electromagnetic emission by a charged particle moving through a dielectric faster than the phase velocity of light in that medium. The particle polarizes the material along its path. Wavelets interfere constructively on a cone when
A simple wavefront construction compares a particle displacement with the light-wave displacement , giving the cone relation. The particle still travels slower than the vacuum speed of light; no violation of special relativity occurs. Dispersion makes the angle and threshold wavelength-dependent. The radiation has a continuous spectrum rather than the discrete line spectrum of an atomic transition.

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