The Flight of a Relativistic Charge in Matter: Insights, Calculations and Practical Applications of Classical Electromagnetism

This book is about the energy loss and the coherent radiation emitted by a relativistic charge in matter. These phenomena – locally deposited energy, Cherenkov radiation and transition radiation – are the basis of any charged particle detector able to discriminate charges by their velocity. This book describes these phenomena and how they are related. The fundamental field equations and first principles are used to derive the spectrum of energy-loss signals and thence the velocity resolutio...