Fluctuations in Ideal Gases and Plasmas and Bremsstrahlung

Abstract

The role of fluctuations has already been mentioned in Chapter 1. Here we can distinguish two questions: one concerning the polarization radiation of fast particles in a fluctuating medium and the other, the radiation by the medium as such because of the fluctuations. The first question is closer to the problem discussed in Chapters 1 and 2. If the fluctuations are similar in origin to those in a gas of free particles, then the final result should correspond to the sum of the polarization radiation on the individual ions, atoms, and molecules. In the above discussion, we found the radiation from a fast particle by summing the radiation on the individual ions, atoms, and molecules. A proof of the statement that the emission from a fast particle on plasma fluctuations (in the approximation of an ideal plasma) is the same as the sum of the emission from the individual ions has been given in [1, 2].