EM II Problem 27

Energy Loss of a Charged Particle Moving in a Dielectric Chris Mueller Dept. of Physics, University of Florida 1 March, 2010

27. Jackson 7.26 A charged particle (charge Ze) moves at constant velocity v through a medium descried by a dielectric function (q, )/ 0 or, equivalently, by a conductivity function (q, ) = i [ 0 (q, )]. It is desired to calculate the energy loss per unit time by the moving particle in terms of the dielectric function (q, ) in the approximation that the electric eld is the negative gradient of the potential and current ow obeys Ohms law, J (q, ) = (q, )E (q, ). (a) Show that with suitable normalization, the Fourier transform of the particles charge density is Ze ( q v ) (q, ) = (2 )3 (b) Show that the Fourier components of the scalar potential are (q, ) = (q, ) q 2 (q, )

(c) Starting from dW/dt = J Ed3 x show that the energy loss per unit time can be written as dW Z 2 e2 d3 q 1 = ( q v ) d dt 4 3 q2 0 (q, ) [This shows that [ (q, )]1 is related to energy loss and provides, by studying characteristic energy losses in thin foils, information on (q, ) for solids.] Instructors Notes: This problem employs Fourier transformation in both space and time. The normalizations chosen for this problem seem to be X (r, t)= d3 qdX (q, )eiqrit & X (q, ) = d3 rdt X (r, t)eiqr+it (2 )4

where X is any of the variables E, J, D, , . If we were to follow the pattern of (7.104), there would have been a factor of 1/(2 )2 in both transforms instead of 1/(2 )4 in only one of them. The space time analog of Jackson (7.105) is D(r, t) = where G(r r , t t ) = d3 r dt G(r r , t t )E (r , t )

d3 qd (q, )eiq(rr) i(tt ) (2 )4

which is the natural 4D generalization of (7.106).

Part a The charge density of a moving point charge can be expressed in terms of a delta function. (r, t) = Ze (r vt)

We want to Fourier transform this charge density. (q, ) = Ze d3 rdt (r vt)eiqr+it (2 )4 Ze = dtei(qv)t (2 )4 Ze = ( q v ) (2 )3

Part b Since we are working under the approximation that the electric eld is the gradient of a scaler potential, Laplaces equation is valid. 2 (q, ) = (q, ) (q, )

One of the nice features of Fourier space is that spatial and temporal derivatives are simply algebraic manipulations by letting iq and t i . This equation therefore simplies nicely to (q, ) = (q, ) q 2 (q, )

Part c We begin with the power equation dW = dt = = J (r, t) E (r, t)d3 r d3 q d J (q , )eiq ri t J (q , ) E (q , )ei(q +q d3 q dw E (q , )eeq d q d3 q d d d3 r
)t 3 r i t

d3 r

)r i( + )t 3

= (2 )3 = (2 )3 = (2 )3

J (q , ) E (q , ) (q + q )ei( + J (q, ) E (q, )ei( + i [

0 )t 3

d q d3 q d d

d qd d
)t 3

(q, )]E (q, ) E (q, )ei( +

d qd d

Since we are working under the approximation that E can be expressed as the gradient of the scaler potential (q, ) E (q, ) = (q, ) = iq 2 q (q, ) Substituting into the integral gives dW = (2 )3 i dt (q, ) (q, ) ei( + )t d3 qd d [ 0 (q, )]q 2 2 2 q q (q, ) q 2 (q, ) [ 0 (q, )] Ze Ze = (2 )3 i ( q v ) ( + q v ) ei( + 2 3 q (q, ) (q, ) (2 ) (2 )3 d3 q Z 2 e2 0 (q, ) = d ( q v ) 3 2 i(2 ) q (q, ) (q, )

)t 3

d qd d

What we now want to do is symmetrize the integral. We begin by breaking up the integral into two parts, one from to 0 and the other from 0 to . We then reverse the bounds on the 2

rst integral obtaining a minus sign. Since the integrand is odd in we can switch the bounds on the rst to be from 0 to and let all of the s in the integrand go to . Also, since the integral is taken over all q , we can simultaneously send q to q q . Combining the two separate integrands we nd
0 (q, ) (q, ) (q, )

0 (q, ) (q, ) (q, )

(q, ) (q, ) (q, ) (q, )

Since we are working in Fourier space (q, ) = Hence, (q, ) (q, ) (q, ) (q, ) Putting all of this back into the integrand gives dW Z 2 e2 = dt 4 3 d3 q q2

(q, ) 1 (q, )

= 2iIm

d Im
0

1 ( q v ) (q, )