Radiative energy loss of relativistic charged particles in absorptive media

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how relativistic charged particles lose energy in absorptive media, accounting for dispersion, polarization, and multiple scatterings, and confirms previous findings on energy loss spectra damping.

Contribution

It introduces a model incorporating complex refractive index to account for absorption and confirms the impact of multiple scatterings on energy loss spectra.

Findings

Energy loss spectrum amplitude is exponentially damped by absorption.

Multiple scatterings influence the energy loss spectrum.

Results align with previous theoretical predictions.

Abstract

We determine the energy loss spectrum per time-interval of a relativistic charge traversing a dispersive medium. Polarization and absorption effects in the medium are modelled via a complex index of refraction. We find that the spectrum amplitude becomes exponentially damped due to absorption mechanisms. Taking explicitly the effect of multiple scatterings on the charge trajectory into account, we confirm results obtained in a previous work.