Mie scattering and the physical mechanisms of sonoluminescence

We propose an experimental procedure to investigate possible mechanisms for radiation emission in sonoluminescence. Our analysis is based on Mie's theory of light scattering for a coated sphere in an external medium. Depending on the physical mechanism responsible of sonolumuinescence, the dielectric constant of the hot spot changes. As a case study we consider the problem of the detection of an inner plasma core in sonoluminescent bubbles. Our results show that polarization measurements of scattered light should discern the presence of a plasma provided that light detectors are fast enough. Extensions to other emission mechanisms are briefly discussed. PACS number(s): 78.60.Mq, 51.70.+f.