witam
We again some questions regarding circular polarisation (or more generally, elliptical polarisation) from synchrotron radiation. See Kennett & Melrose (1998) quoted/linked below. Also, see
Radiative Processes in Astrophysics - Google Books Result by George B. Rybicki, Alan P. Lightman - 1991 - Science - 400 pages
http://books.google.com/books?id=LtdEjNABMlsC&pg=PA180
"The first point to notice is that the radiation from a single charge will be elliptically polarized, ... "
i'm sure the full book gives a physical explanation of this.
pozdr boud
On Fri, 27 Feb 2009, Boud Roukema wrote:
witam cosmo-torun
- circular polarisation from synchrotron processes?
Kennett & Melrose, 1998, PASA, 15, 211 http://www.atnf.csiro.au/pasa/15_2/kennett/paper/node3.html
In some sources it may be that the relativistic particles are electron-positron pairs (e.g., Wilson & Weiler 1997). Electrons and positrons contribute with the same sign to the linearly polarized component and with the opposite sign to the circularly polarized component. If the distributions of electrons and positrons are the same the wave modes can have no circular component and, more importantly, the intrinsic circular polarization from the synchrotron radiation sums to zero.
So if we have different distributions of electrons and positrons, then we get a circular polarisation component.
i'm sure there must be more basic texts on this subject...
pozdr boud
Cosmo-torun mailing list Cosmo-torun@cosmo.torun.pl http://cosmo.torun.pl/mailman/listinfo/cosmo-torun