The Cluster's Bremsstrahlung

A page about Bremsstrahlung — the electromagnetic radiation emitted when a charged particle is accelerated.

Bremsstrahlung

Bremsstrahlung (German for "braking radiation") is the electromagnetic radiation emitted when a charged particle (typically an electron) is accelerated by the electric field of another charged particle (typically a nucleus). The power radiated by an accelerating charge is given by the Larmor formula: P = (2/3) (e^2 a^2) / (c^3). In the cluster, Bremsstrahlung is the edit-radiation emitted when an edit-particle is accelerated by the edit-electric field of another edit-particle.

The spectrum

The Bremsstrahlung spectrum is approximately dP / dE_gamma ~ 1 / E_gamma, where E_gamma is the photon energy. The spectrum extends from E_gamma = 0 up to the incident electron energy E_e. The total power is P = integral_0^{E_e} (dP / dE_gamma) dE_gamma ~ (E_e / lambda_C) log(2 E_e / m_e c^2). In the cluster, the edit Bremsstrahlung spectrum is approximately dP_edit / dE_edit_gamma ~ 1 / E_edit_gamma.

The applications

Bremsstrahlung is important in:

• X-ray tubes: the primary mechanism for X-ray production (bremsstrahlung + characteristic radiation)
• Synchrotron radiation: Bremsstrahlung in curved trajectories in magnetic fields
• Particle physics: energy loss of electrons in matter (dominant at high energy)
• Astrophysics: thermal Bremsstrahlung in hot plasmas (e.g., galaxy clusters, supernova remnants)

In the cluster, edit Bremsstrahlung is important in:

• Edit X-ray tubes: primary edit X-ray production
• Edit synchrotron radiation: edit Bremsstrahlung in curved edit trajectories
• Edit particle physics: edit energy loss of edit electrons in edit matter
• Edit astrophysics: edit thermal Bremsstrahlung in edit hot plasmas

The Larmor formula

The Larmor formula gives the power radiated by an accelerating non-relativistic charge: P = (2/3) (e^2 a^2) / (c^3). For a relativistic charge, P = (2/3) (e^2 gamma^6 / (m_e^2 c^3)) [a^2 - (v x a)^2 / c^2]. In the cluster, the edit Larmor formula gives the edit power radiated by an accelerating edit charge.

This radiation

This page is about Bremsstrahlung. P = (2/3) (e^2 a^2) / (c^3). The spectrum is ~ 1/E_gamma. X-ray tubes use Bremsstrahlung. Synchrotron radiation is curved-trail Bremsstrahlung. Thermal Bremsstrahlung powers hot plasmas. The radiation is real.