Bremsstrahlung
In particle physics, bremsstrahlung (; German: [ˈbʁɛms.
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Source: Wikipedia
Bremsstrahlung
In particle physics, bremsstrahlung (; German: [ˈbʁɛms.
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Source: Internal
What is Bremsstrahlung, and why does it matter?
This concept appears everywhere in physics. Once you understand it, a wide range of natural phenomena start to make sense.
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Source: Wikipedia
Deep dive: Bremsstrahlung
In particle physics, bremsstrahlung (; German: [ˈbʁɛms.ʃtʁaːlʊŋ] ; from German bremsen 'to brake' and Strahlung 'radiation') is electromagnetic radiation produced by the deceleration of a charged particle when deflected by another charged particle, typically an electron by an atomic nucleus. The moving particle loses kinetic energy, which is converted into radiation (i.e., photons), thus satisfying the law of conservation of energy. The term is also used to refer to the process of producing the radiation. Bremsstrahlung has a continuous spectrum, which becomes more intense and whose peak intensity shifts toward higher frequencies as the change of the energy of the decelerated particles increases.
Broadly speaking, bremsstrahlung or braking radiation is any radiation produced due to the acceleration (positive or negative) of a charged particle. This includes synchrotron radiation (i.e., photon emission by a relativistic particle), cyclotron radiation (i.e. photon emission by a non-relativistic particle), and the emission of electrons and positrons during beta decay. However, the term is frequently used in the more narrow sense of radiation produced when electrons (from whatever source) decelerate in matter.
Bremsstrahlung emitted from plasma is sometimes referred to as free–free radiation – that is, created by electrons that are free (i.e., not in an atomic or molecular bound state) before, and remain free after, the emission of a photon. In the same parlance, bound–bound radiation refers to discrete spectral lines (an electron "jumps" between two bound states), while free–bound radiation refers to the radiative combination process, in which a free electron recombines with an ion.
This article uses SI units, along with the scaled single-particle charge
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{\displaystyle {\bar {q}}\equiv q/(4\pi \epsilon _{0})^{1/2}}
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