Synchrotron radiation in strongly coupled conformal field theories

Using gauge/gravity duality, we compute the energy density and angular distribution of the power radiated by a quark undergoing circular motion in strongly coupled N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. We compare the strong coupling results to those at weak coupling, finding them to be very similar. In both regimes, the angular distribution of the radiated power is in fact similar to that of synchrotron radiation produced by an electron in circular motion in classical electrodynamics: the quark emits radiation in a narrow beam along its velocity vector with a characteristic opening angle alpha similar to 1/gamma. To an observer far away from the quark, the emitted radiation appears as a short periodic burst, just like the light from a lighthouse does to a ship at sea. Our strong coupling results are valid for any strongly coupled conformal field theory with a dual classical gravity description.