On the Classical Radiation of Accelerated Electrons

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the properties of the radiation from a high energy accelerated electron, as recently observed in the General Electric synchrotron. An elementary derivation of the total rate of radiation is first presented, based on Larmor's formula for a slowly moving electron, and arguments of relativistic invariance. We then construct an expression for the instantaneous power radiated by an electron moving along an arbitrary, prescribed path. By casting this result into various forms, one obtains the angular distribution, the spectral distribution, or the combined angular and spectral distributions of the radiation. The method is based on an examination of the rate at which the electron irreversibly transfers energy to the electromagnetic field, as determined by half the difference of retarded and advanced electric field intensities. Formulas are obtained for an arbitrary charge-current distribution and then specialized to a point charge. The total radiated power and its angular distribution are obtained for an arbitrary trajectory. It is found that the direction of motion is a strongly preferred direction of emission at high energies. The spectral distribution of the radiation depends upon the detailed motion over a time interval large compared to the period of the radiation. However, the narrow cone of radiation generated by an energetic electron indicates that only a small part of the trajectory is effective in producing radiation observed in a given direction, which also implies that very high frequencies are emitted. Accordingly, we evaluate the spectral and angular distributions of the high frequency radiation by an energetic electron, in their dependence upon the parameters characterizing the instantaneous orbit. The average spectral distribution, as observed in the synchrotron measurements, is obtained by averaging the electron energy over an acceleration cycle. The entire spectrum emitted by an electron moving with constant speed in a circular path is also discussed. Finally, it is observed that quantum effects will modify the classical results here obtained only at extraordinarily large energies.