can cerenkov radiation travel faster than light?

Question

if light slows down in medium can we make sonic boom for light to travel faster than light as Cerenkov Radiation? if so , does the speed of cerenkov radiation travel faster than the constant speed of light or is it just becuz light slows down in the medium that the cerenko radiation can go faster than it with the same constant speed of light? OMG it is getting complicated in my head

Answer 1

I think you have what Cherekov radiation is a little fuzzy :) All it is is the quantum equivalent of a sonic boom. The Cherenkov radiation itself doesnt travel faster than light, it is created because a particle is moving through a medium faster than the speed of light in that medium. It is just a shockwave created by the passage of a particle, just like a sonic boom is created by a jet moving faster than the speed of sound in a medium (air). The Cherenkov radiation itself, the visible light we see from it, still moves at the speed of light, just like the sound from the sonic boom still only travels to our ears at the speed of sound. it is complex but i hope this helps!

Grizzly: Cherenkov radiation does NOT have to be created from particle passage between mediums, as you implied. In fact the most common particle that produces it is an electron. the passage at superluminal speeds creates an instability in the EM field of the medium it passes through, and photons are emitted by the electrons of the MEDIUM as the medium restores itself to stability. This photonic radiation occurs when the disruption travels faster than the photons, which creates an intensifying interference effect which is detectable as that cool blue glow of Cherenkov radiation.

Answer 2

It seems complicated, but it's not too bad. Light in a vacuum travels at the well-known universal constant speed of 2.9979 * 10^8 m/s. However, in media (such as glass or water), the speed of light is considerably less. The index of refraction of the material is related to the speed at which light propogates through it; in water, light slows down to about 3/4 of its vacuum speed. That's all handled quite easily, as the interaction of the electric field of the light interact with the electrons and protons of the material to slow the light down. Now consider a charged particle that has been accelerated to close to the speed of light in a vacuum. Introduce that particle into a non-vacuum media, and now it's traveling faster than the speed of light in that medium. That can't happen, so the particle gives up enough energy to reduce it's speed to less than the speed of light for the medium it's in. That energy comes off in the form of photons, which is what we call Cerenkov radiation. So the Cerenkov radiation doesn't travel faster than the speed of light -- it arises because nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.

Answer 3

i do no longer possibly have comments whilst it includes technological know-how. In technological know-how we basically make predictions and then try them with commentary and/or test. If the outcomes help the thought then we are saying the thought is actual till we are able to offer different consequences which advise in any different case. the present rules of physics say that no longer something with any mass can trip swifter than mild. yet it incredibly is to no longer say it relatively is impossible, purely that no test has been finished so a great way which proves in any different case. Any perception or opinion which states something which isn't in accord with the present rules of physics is organic hypothesis and for this reason has no place in technological know-how. If the neutrino test seems to be actual then of direction we are able to adjust the guideline books as a effect. In technological know-how on each and every occasion we make a fact approximately some thing - for this reason the implication that neutrinos can trip swifter than mild - the reaction is often "coach it" and that's strictly what the scientists at CERN are aiming to do now. confirm their consequences.