Cherenkov-Vavilov Formulation of X Waves

Journal Article · Fri Dec 14 00:00:00 EST 2007 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.99.244802· OSTI ID:21024568

Walker, S C; Kuperman, W A ^[1]

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1. Marine Physical Laboratory of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0238 (United States)

The field from a supersonic (or equivalently superluminal) point source in uniform motion [i.e., the Cherenkov-Vavilov (CV) effect] is shown to be equivalent to the diffractionless X-wave field. It is demonstrated that the power required to support an X wave is equivalent to the power dissipated by a CV source. In the context of the CV solution, it is clear that any supersonic or superluminal properties exhibited by X waves are purely phase effects. As a consequence, X waves cannot propagate a signal faster than the speed of waves, and thus necessarily obey the law on the finiteness of information transfer.

• OSTI ID: 21024568
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 99, Issue 24; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.244802; (c) 2007 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CHERENKOV RADIATION
MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
POINT SOURCES
SIGNALS
SUPERSONIC FLOW
WAVE PROPAGATION