Cherenkov radiation

Cherenkov radiation, forby kent as Vavilov–Cherenkov radiation,^[a] is electromagnetic radiation emittit when a chairged pairticle (such as an electron) passes throu a dielectric medium at a speed greater nor the phase velocity o licht in that medium. The chairactereestic blue glow o an unnerwatter nuclear reactor is due tae Cherenkov radiation. It is named efter Soviet scientist Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, the 1958 Nobel Prize winner wha wis the first tae detect it experimentally.^[1] A theory o this effect wis later developed within the framework o Einstein's special relativity theory bi Igor Tamm an Ilya Frank, wha shared the Nobel Prize an aa. Cherenkov radiation haed been theoretically predictit bi the Inglis polymath Oliver Heaviside in papers published in 1888–89.^[2]

Cherenkov radiation glowin in the core o the Advanced Test Reactor.

Notes

1. Alternative spellin forms: Cherenkov, Čerenkov, Cerenkov, an Vavilov, Wawilow.