Cherenkov Radiation

Bradley J. Wogsland
August 30, 2006

Contents
1 Cherenkov Radiation 1
1.1 Cherenkov History Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Frank-Tamm Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Dispertion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3.1 Complex Indices of Refraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4 Diffraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.5 Scattering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.6 Edge Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.7 Radiation Below the β Threshold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.8 Quantum Mechanical Modifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.9 Cherenkov Radiation is not Bremsstrahlung! . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1 Cherenkov Radiation
1.1 Cherenkov History Introduction
Everyone is familiar with Einstein’s postulate that the speed of light in a vacuum
c is an absolute limit on velocity, however, it is also true that light travels
through any medium at a slower rate. Heaviside was the first to realize in the
late nineteenth century that a particle passing through a medium faster than
the speed of light in that medium ought to emit radiation. Although, not yet
having Einstein’s postulate he also calculated what this would be for a particle
traveling through the aether. The angle away from the particle’s path with
which that light will be emitted is

cosθC = 1/βn (1)

where θC is the angle, β is the velocity of the particle relative to the speed of light
in a vacuum (β = v/c), and n is the index of refraction of the medium through
which the particle is passing. Unaware of Heaviside’s theory, in 1937 Cherenkov
and Vavilov working in Russia discovered this radiation while studying nuclear
decay. Pavel Cherenkov won the 1958 Nobel Prize for the discovery of the effect,
and surely would have shared it with Vavilov if he was still alive.

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1.2 Frank-Tamm Theory
Frank and Tamm were collegues of Vavilov and Cherenkov at the Lebedev Phys-
ical Institute in Moscow, so they naturally had a head start in formulating the
theory. In 1938 they published their theory of Cherenkov radiation [citation?]
for which they would receive the Nobel Prize along with Cherenkov in 1958.
Pedagogical introductions to their theory can be found in the books by Jelley
[1] and Zrelov [2].
Developing along lines which might have been familiar to Heaviside, the
starting point is the relation of the electric field E and its associated polarization
vector P in a medium with refractive index n:

P = (n2 − 1)E (2)

Note also that there is a frequency dependence of this equation arising from the
implicit Fourier expansions
Z +∞ Z +∞
P= P(ω)eiωt dω, n = n(ω)eiωt dω, etc. (3)
−∞ −∞

of all the variable quantities. Now to write Maxwell’s equations in this medium
we convert to
D = n2 E (4)
which yields

∇·D =
4πρ (5)
1 ∂H
∇×E = − (6)
c ∂t
∇·H = 0 (7)
4π 1 ∂D
∇×H = j+ . (8)
c c ∂t
Then one can reduce Maxwell’s equations to a more suitable form using the
potentials
1 ∂A
E = −∇ϕ − (9)
c ∂t
H = ∇×A (10)

which are given in the Lorentz gauge,

ε ∂ϕ
∇·A=− . (11)
c ∂t
Note that the two potential equations are equivalent to (6) and (7). Taking the
gradient of (11) and adding it to εc ∂t
∂
operated on (9) yields one

1 ∂D ε ∂2A
= ∇(∇ · A) − 2 2 (12)
c ∂t c ∂t

2
and plugging (10) into (8) yields
4π 1 ∂D
∇(∇ · A) − ∇2 A = j+ (13)
c c ∂t
which combined with the previous gives the final result
ε ∂2A 4π
∇2 A − 2 2
=− j (14)
c ∂t c
for the vector potential and current. Similarly, taking the partial derivative of
(11) with respect to time and adding it to εc∇· operated on (9) yields

ε2 ∂ 2 ϕ
c∇ · D = −εc∇2 ϕ + . (15)
c ∂t2
Combining this with (5) finally gives

ε ∂2ϕ 4π
∇2 ϕ − = − ρ. (16)
c2 ∂t2 ε
Now since we are interested in only the optical properties of our medium, we
recall from (4) that ε = n2 and that Fourier transforming the equations simply
∂
means ∂t → iω. Thus if we apply this knowledge to (14) and (16) we get

n2 ω 2 4π
∇2 A − A=− j (17)
c2 c
2 2
n ω 4π
∇2 ϕ − 2 ϕ = − 2 ρ (18)
c n
It is at this juncture where we part from Heaviside so as to study the simplest
possible case of a single electron passing through the medium in question. To
the resolution of current experiments the electron is a point particle so we use
Dirac delta functions,
j = evδ(x)δ(y)δ(z − vt)ẑ (19)
where v is the electron’s velocity and the z-axis corresponds to the beamline.
1
Now to Fourier transform this equation we recall that δ(ax) = |a| δ(x) which
means that
Z +∞
z
j = eδ(x)δ(y) δ( − t)eiωt dωẑ (20)
−∞ v
iωz
= eδ(x)δ(y)e v ẑ (21)

assuming, as we have, a positive velocity v. Hopefully it is clear that the first e

is the electron’s charge whereas the second is 2.718... If we now plug (21) into
(17) to get an equation for the vector potential in the medium through which
the electron passes, this yields
n2 ω 2 4eπ iωz
∇2 A − A=− δ(x)δ(y)e v ẑ. (22)
c2 c

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Clearly in the x and y directions there are identical Helmholtz equations, but
we are only interested in the trivial solutions since ????. Thus we concentrate
on the beam direction, where

n2 ω 2 4eπ iωz
∇2 Az − 2
Az = − δ(x)δ(y)e v (23)
c c
iωz
and with prescient forsight we guess a solution of the form Az = u(ρ)e v ,
switching to cylindrical coordinates as well. Simplifying,

∂ 2 u 1 ∂u ω 2 2 2 2e
+ + 2 (β n − 1)u = − δ(ρ) (24)
∂ρ2 ρ ∂ρ v cρ
1
since δ(x)δ(y) = 2πρ δ(ρ). This Bessel equation’s solution will have different
characteristics depending on whether β 2 n2 = 1, β 2 n2 < 1 or β 2 n2 > 1. Letting

ω2 2 2
(β n − 1) = k 2 (25)
v2
to simplify matters, one sees that the solutions to the homogeneous part of (24)
are the usual Bessel functions
Z 2π
1
J0 (kρ) = eikρsinθ dθ (26)
2π 0
2 ∞ cos(kρt)
Z
Y0 (kρ) = − √ dt. (27)
π 1 t2 − 1
Returning to the inhomgeneaity in (24) we multiply through by ρ and integrate,
Z ∞ Z ∞
∂ 2 u ∂u 2 2e
(ρ 2 + + k ρu)dρ = − δ(ρ)dρ (28)
0 ∂ρ ∂ρ 0 c
Z ∞  ∞
∂u ∂u ∂u  2e
(− + + k 2 ρu)dρ + ρ  =− c (29)
0 ∂ρ ∂ρ ∂ρ 0
Z ∞    
lim ∂u lim ∂u 2e
k2 ρudρ+ ρ → ∞ ρ −ρ→0 ρ =− (30)
0 ∂ρ ∂ρ c
 
lim ∂u 2e
ρ→0 ρ = (31)
∂ρ c
where one can eliminate the first two terms in the penultimate equation because
?????. (Actually, it seems to me they ought to diverge since J, J 0 , Y and Y 0 all
go like √1ρ at large ρ.)
Thus far we have followed the usual procedure to solve a differential equation
of known form. Herefollows the gimmick that earned Frank and Tamm their
Nobel prize. Instead of continuing on to find a particular solution of the in-
homogeneous equation and then using initial conditions to find the coeffecients
of (26) and (27) in the general solution, they used (31) to get the asymptotic
coefficients of the solution u(ρ). Since the length scale of the electromagnetic

4
force is microscopic, it is not unreasonable to use an asymptotic approximation
of the Bessel functions for large ρ,
u(ρ) = AJ0 (kρ) + BY0 (kρ) (32)
r
2  π π 
≈ Acos(kρ − ) + Bsin(kρ − ) , (33)
kπρ 4 4
as we are interested in macroscopic effects. Now it is clear that the β 2 n2 = 1
is nonphysical since k = 0 in this case. For the second case it makes sense to
rotate the coefficients to
r
2  i(kρ− π ) π

u(ρ) ≈ Ce 4 + De−i(kρ− 4 ) . (34)
kπρ
Considering the β 2 n2 < 1 case, k is imaginary which means that D must be
zero to avoid divergences. All that’s left is a decaying exponential which will
leave no appreciable vector potential at large distances. This means that low
velocity particles don’t emit Cherenkov radiation. The final case involves those
particles with high enough energy for which β 2 n2 > 1. Here the Bessel functions
naturally yield a nice outgoing cylindrical wave.
skipping ahead....
Finally this yields the Frank-Tamm equation,
e2
Z  
dW 1
= 2 1 − 2 2 ωdω (35)
dl c βn>1 β n

1.3 Dispertion
The refractive index of a given substance is actually a function of the wavelength
λ of the light passing through it.

1.3.1 Complex Indices of Refraction

(ω) = R (ω) + iI (ω) (36)
Which modifies the Frank-Tamm equation to
!
e2
Z
dW R (ω)
= 2 1− 2 ωdω (37)
dl c βn>1 β 2 |(ω)|
and leads to damping.

1.4 Diffraction
Main cause of width of Cherenkov Ring:
λ
∆θC ≈ (38)
Lsinθ
where L is the length of the particle’s path in the radiator and λ is the wave-
length of light being emitted.

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1.5 Scattering
1.6 Edge Effects
1.7 Radiation Below the β Threshold
1.8 Quantum Mechanical Modifications
There is a small correction to (1), namely

n2 − 1
 
1 Λ
cosθC = + (39)
βn λ 2n2

1.9 Cherenkov Radiation is not Bremsstrahlung!

Cherenkov radiation is a macroscopic effect of the whole medium on a charged
particle, whereas Bremsstrahlung is the interaction of a charged particle with a
individual screened nucleus.

References
[1] J. V. Jelley, Cherenkov Radiation and Its Applications, 1958.
[2] V. P. Zrelov, Cherenkov Radiation in High-Energy Physics, 1970.