Polarization Bremsstrahlung on Many-Electron Atoms and in Atomic Collisions

Abstract

We have already presented the physics of polarization bremsstrahlung in detail in Chapter 1. Here, before proceeding to a concrete discussion of the results concerning many-electron atoms, it is worthwhile to emphasize once again a number of important properties of polarization bremsstrahlung. The internal structure of the particles is important for polarization bremsstrahlung. This structure makes it possible for both the particles of which the medium is made and the particles which are created because of the variability induced by the polarization to become polarized and radiate. In such a generalized formulation, any structured particles can, in principle, emit any other particles (provided this is allowed by the conservation laws). In an interaction involving a structured particle it is natural to distinguish elastic polarization bremsstrahlung, when the colliding particles do not change their internal state, from bremsstrahlung with excitation or inelastic bremsstrahlung. Polarization of structured particles is also possible during a collision process if the particles are electrically neutral on the whole, but have different charges and masses, or interact in different ways with an incident particle. In all these cases, a variable dipole moment is induced in a structured particle during the collision process.