Diffraction radiation from a charge as radiation from a superluminal source in a vacuum

Abstract

Abstract An analysis of spectral-angular characteristics of diffraction radiation, both incoherent and coherent, has been performed. It is shown that radiation processes can be interpreted as Cherenkov radiation, which is produced by a region of dynamic polarization moving along a target edge with superluminal velocity v SL. Such radiation is generated if the condition v SL > c is fulfilled, which is the conventional ‘threshold’ Cherenkov condition.