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X-Rays - Another Form of Light
Synchrotron Radiation
But this is not the whole story. X-ray photons can also be created under
different conditions. When physicists were operating the first particle
accelerators, they discovered that electrons can produce photons without
colliding at all. This was possible because the magnetic field in the
accelerators was causing the electrons to move in large spirals around magnetic
field lines of force. This process is called synchrotron radiation.
In the cosmos particles such as electrons can be accelerated to high
energies– near the speed of light– by electric and magnetic fields.
These high-energy particles can produce synchrotron photons with wavelengths
ranging from radio up through X-ray and gamma-ray energies.
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Synchrotron Radiation: Electrons moving in
magnetic field radiate photons.
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Synchrotron radiation from cosmic sources has a distinctive spectrum, or
distribution of photons with energy. The radiation falls off with energy less
rapidly than does the spectrum of radiation from a hot gas. When synchrotron
radiation is observed in supernova remnants, cosmic jets, or other sources, it
reveals information about the high-energy electrons and magnetic fields that are
present.
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