The mechanism of Vavilov-Cherenkov radiation

The mechanism of generation of Vavilov-Cherenkov radiation is discussed in this article. The developers of the theory of the Vavilov-Cherenkov effect, I.E. Tamm and I.M. Frank, attributed this effect to their discovery of a new mechanism of radiation when a charged particle moves uniformly and rectilinearly in the medium. As such a mechanism presupposes the violation of the laws of conservation of energy and momentum, they proposed the abolition of these laws to account for the Vavilov-Cherenkov radiation mechanism. This idea has received a considerably wide acceptance in the creation of other theories, for example, transition radiation theory. In this paper, the radiation mechanism for the charge constant motion is demonstrated to be incorrect, because it contradicts not only the laws of conservation of energy and momentum, but also the very definitions of uniform and rectilinear motion (Newton's First Law). A consistent explanation of the Vavilov-Cherenkov radiation microscopic mechanism that does not contradict the basic laws is proposed. It is shown that the radiation arises from the interaction of the moving charge with bound charges that are spaced fairly far away from its trajectory. The Vavilov-Cherenkov radiation mechanism bears a slowing down character, but it differs fundamentally from bremsstrahlung, primarily because the Vavilov-Cherenkov radiation onset results from a two-stage process. First, the moving particle polarizes the medium; then, the already polarized atoms radiate coherently, provided that the particle velocity exceeds the phase speed of light in the medium. If the particle velocity is less than the phase speed of light in the medium, the polarized atoms return energy to the outgoing particle. In this case, radiation is not observed. Special attention is given to the relatively constant particle velocity as the condition of the coherent composition of waves. However, its motion cannot be designated as a uniform and rectilinear one in the sense of its definition by Newton's First Law, and it also contradicts the laws of conservation of energy and momentum.