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Cherenkov Radiation

iaea.org

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Re: Cherenkov Radiation

#41

Post by Betelbuddy »

mmmattt wrote: post #36
Betelbuddy wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> The title (likely intentionally) is misleading, That is because that is not the title...the title is: "What is Cherenkov Radiation?"

He obviously meant the title of the HN post? Why not straight up say that the article title is different and avoid the passive aggressiveness.

I did not meant it in that way...and I would bet, most did not interpret it as such...the passive aggressiveness is coming from you.

I meant it that the poster, changed the original title, what is a kind of editorializing. I thought of calling on the mods to edit it back, but judged that would be a kind of... semi-passive aggressiveness.

Re: Cherenkov Radiation

#43

Post by shevy-java »

> but there are other particles that don’t slow down as much and end up moving faster than light

But if they say that light is fastest in vacuum, slower elsewhere, why can they then say that other energy variants would move faster? They'd still be objectively slower than light in vacuum. This is like saying my bicycle is faster than a Ferrari if the latter is stuck in mud or a pit.

Edit: Just noticed that others such as u/nuccy also pointed that out. Agreed. The title is wrong.

Re: Cherenkov Radiation

#44

Post by fnands »

maxnoe wrote: post #37

The article has a section about what it can be used for, but only mentions the uses of the IAEA. Of course I am biased because I work in the field, but the by far most wide reaching application of Cherenkov radiation is in the detection of high energy particles, particularly in astrophysics. - Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes detect the Cherenkov radiation emmited in the atmosphere when a high energy cosmic r…

Exactly! I visited HESS in Namibia last week, so Cherenkov telescopes are on the top of my mind right now.

Re: Cherenkov Radiation

#45

Post by jefftk »

Betelbuddy wrote: post #41
mmmattt wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He obviously meant the title of the HN post? Why not straight up say that the article title is different and avoid the passive aggressiveness.

I did not meant it in that way...and I would bet, most did not interpret it as such...the passive aggressiveness is coming from you. I meant it that the poster, changed the original title, what is a kind of editorializing. I thought of calling on the mods to edit it back, but judged that would be a kind of... semi-passive aggressiveness.

I don't think there's anything 'passive' about specifically asking for what you think should be done!

Re: Cherenkov Radiation

#47

Post by JosephRedfern »

Betelbuddy wrote: post #41
mmmattt wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He obviously meant the title of the HN post? Why not straight up say that the article title is different and avoid the passive aggressiveness.

I did not meant it in that way...and I would bet, most did not interpret it as such...the passive aggressiveness is coming from you. I meant it that the poster, changed the original title, what is a kind of editorializing. I thought of calling on the mods to edit it back, but judged that would be a kind of... semi-passive aggressiveness.

It came of kinda passive aggressive to me, to be honest!

Re: Cherenkov Radiation

#48

Post by scotty79 »

> When charged particles moving faster than light travel in, for example, water, they perturb the energy equilibrium of the atoms that are in their way. In order to regain equilibrium, those atoms release photons – the types of particles that compose visible light, creating a “shock-wave” of visible light.

That's like the vaguest description of anything ever. Is physics a stealth startup?

Why does it specifically happen when particles travel faster than light in a given medium? There's no glow for particles moving slower?

Re: Cherenkov Radiation

#49

Post by mytailorisrich »

scotty79 wrote: post #48

> When charged particles moving faster than light travel in, for example, water, they perturb the energy equilibrium of the atoms that are in their way. In order to regain equilibrium, those atoms release photons – the types of particles that compose visible light, creating a “shock-wave” of visible light. That's like the vaguest description of anything ever. Is physics a stealth startup? Why does it specifically hap…

I think a common analogy is that this is a bit like the sonic boom when something travels faster than sound in that medium.

Re: Cherenkov Radiation

#50

Post by hakonjdjohnsen »

A fun fact about Cherenkov radiation is that research on making efficient Cherenkov detectors in the 1960s led to the development of optical principles still used to design illumination systems and solar concentrators today.

The late professor Roland Winston worked on this problem and discovered a geometry that could concentrate the light from a diffuse source like Cherenkov radiation to a detector with near-ideal performance ( https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1720428 ). It turns out that efficiently transferring light from diffuse sources has applications far beyond detecting Cherenkov radiation, so Winston founded the field of Nonimaging Optics and spent much of the rest of his carreer on developing the foundations of the field and on bringing together a community of scientists who would work on carrying the field forwards.

I do research in this field myself, and I find the optics and principles behind it endlessly fascinating

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