Visualisation of Cherenkov Radiation and the Fields of a Moving Charge

Abstract

For some physics students, the concept of a particle travelling faster than the speed of light holds endless fascination, and Cherenkov radiation is a visible consequence of a charged particle travelling through a medium at locally superluminal velocities. The Heaviside--Feynman equations for calculating the magnetic and electric fields of a moving charge have been known for many decades, but it is only recently that the computing power to plot the fields of such a particle has become readily available for student use. This article investigates and illustrates the calculation of Maxwell's D field in homogeneous isotropic media for arbitrary, including superluminal, constant velocity, and uses the results as a basis for discussing energy transfer in the electromagnetic field.