Semi-classical approximation and the problem of boundary conditions in the theory of relativistic particle radiation

Abstract

Abstract The process of relativistic particle radiation in an external field has been studied in the semi-classical approximation rather extensively. The main problem arising in the studies is to express the formula of the quantum theory of radiation in terms of classical quantities, for example of the classical trajectories. However, it still remains unclear how the particle trajectory is assigned, that is which particular initial or boundary conditions determine the trajectory in semi-classical approximation quantum theory of radiation. We shall try to solve this problem. Its importance comes from the fact that in some cases one and the same boundary conditions may give rise to two or more trajectories. We demonstrate that this fact must necessarily be taken into account on deriving the classical limit for the formulae of the quantum theory of radiation, since it leads to a specific interference effect in radiation. The method we used to deal with the problem is similar to the method employed by Fock to...