Nonexistence of two forms of turbulent bremsstrahlung

Journal Article · Mon Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1985 · Astrophys. J.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/163271· OSTI ID:5259252

Kuijpers, J; Melrose, D B

It is shown that the forms of turbulent bremsstrahlung proposed by Tsytovich, Stenflo, and Wilhelmsson and by Nambu do not exist. The proposed mechanisms involve upconversion of ion sound turbulence into Langmuir turbulence, with the ion sound waves being emitted and absorbed resonantly and the Langmuir waves being emitted and absorbed nonresonantly. It is pointed out that a symmetry implicit in a standard QED treatment implies that there is another contribution to turbulent bremsstrahlung in addition to that calculated by Tsytovich, Stenflo, and Wilhelmsson and that the two contributions cancel exactly, leading to the null result. (Our arguments on this point have proved controversial.) Nambu made an approximation inconsistently, and when this approximation is not made, two terms in his analytic treatment cancel exactly. We argue that turbulent bremsstrahlung is related to a radiative correction in which the resonant emission of ion sound turbulence is modified by the nonresonant emission and absorption of Langmuir waves. Physically we interpret the nonexistence of turbulent bremsstrahlung as being due to each emission of a Langmuir quantum being associated with an absorption of an identical Langmuir quantum so that the Langmuir turbulence is unchanged. Proposed astrophysical applications of turbulent bremsstrahlung need to be reconsidered.

• Research Organization: Sterrekundig Instituut, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht
• OSTI ID: 5259252
• Journal Information: Astrophys. J.; (United States), Journal Name: Astrophys. J.; (United States) Vol. 294:1; ISSN ASJOA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ASTROPHYSICS
BOLTZMANN-VLASOV EQUATION
BREMSSTRAHLUNG
DAMPING
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
ELECTRODYNAMICS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ENERGY TRANSFER
EQUATIONS
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NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
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PLASMA WAVES
QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
RADIANT HEAT TRANSFER
RADIATIONS
RESONANCE
STARS
TURBULENCE