Synchrotron radiation
It is produced artificially in some types of particle accelerators or naturally by fast electrons moving through magnetic fields.
The radiation produced in this way has a characteristic polarization, and the frequencies generated can range over a large portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Radiation emitted by charged particles moving non-relativistically in a magnetic field is called cyclotron emission.
[2] For particles in the mildly relativistic range (≈85% of the speed of light), the emission is termed gyro-synchrotron radiation.
[3] In astrophysics, synchrotron emission occurs, for instance, due to ultra-relativistic motion of a charged particle around a black hole.
[4] When the source follows a circular geodesic around the black hole, the synchrotron radiation occurs for orbits close to the photosphere where the motion is in the ultra-relativistic regime.
[6] As recounted by Herbert Pollock:[7] On April 24, Langmuir and I were running the machine and as usual were trying to push the electron gun and its associated pulse transformer to the limit.
[8]A direct consequence of Maxwell's equations is that accelerated charged particles always emit electromagnetic radiation.
Synchrotron radiation is the special case of charged particles moving at relativistic speed undergoing acceleration perpendicular to their direction of motion, typically in a magnetic field.
in the formula for the emitted power means that electrons radiate energy at approximately 1013 times the rate of protons.
However, beginning in the 1980s, circular electron accelerators known as light sources have been constructed to deliberately produce intense beams of synchrotron radiation for research.
[12] Synchrotron radiation is also generated by astronomical objects, typically where relativistic electrons spiral (and hence change velocity) through magnetic fields.
[13] It is considered to be one of the most powerful tools in the study of extra-solar magnetic fields wherever relativistic charged particles are present.
It is often used to estimate the strength of large cosmic magnetic fields as well as analyze the contents of the interstellar and intergalactic media.
[14] This type of radiation was first detected in the Crab Nebula in 1956 by Jan Hendrik Oort and Theodore Walraven,[15] and a few months later in a jet emitted by Messier 87 by Geoffrey R.
[18] T. K. Breus noted that questions of priority on the history of astrophysical synchrotron radiation are complicated, writing: In particular, the Russian physicist V.L.
[clarification needed][19]It has been suggested that supermassive black holes produce synchrotron radiation in "jets", generated by the gravitational acceleration of ions in their polar magnetic fields.
Polarization in the Crab nebula[22] at energies from 0.1 to 1.0 MeV, illustrates this typical property of synchrotron radiation.
Cosmic ray electrons moving through the medium interact with relativistic plasma and emit synchrotron radiation which is detected on Earth.
The properties of the radiation allow astronomers to make inferences about the magnetic field strength and orientation in these regions.
