Sokolov-Ternov effect

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The Sokolov-Ternov effect, predicted by I. M. Ternov and strictly established together with A. A. Sokolov with the use of the exact solutions to the Dirac equation, is a radiative selfpolarization of relativistic electrons. The effect is that spins of particles are oriented in the same way under the influence of synchrotron radiation when they circulate in storage rings for a long time. The effect of radiative polarization provides a unique capability for creating polarized beams of high-energy electrons and positrons and is of special interest in connection with the problem of how to create a beam of relativistic particles with an oriented spin. The Sokolov-Ternov effect was experimentally observed in the USSR, France, Germany, USA, Japan, and Switzerland in storage rings with electrons of energy 1-50 GeV.[1] This effect also gives strong evidence for experimental observation of the Unruh and Hawking radiations. Under experimentally achievable conditions for gravitational systems these radiations are too small to be observed. Recent work[2] shows that if one takes an accelerated observer to be an electron circularly orbiting in a constant external magnetic field, then the Sokolov-Ternov effect coincides with the Unruh effect, which is in close connection with the Hawking radiation.

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  1. ^ V. A. Bordovitsyn, Synchrotron Radiation Theory and Its Development in Memory of I M Ternov
  2. ^ Emil T Akhmedov, Douglas Singleton On the physical meaning of the Unruh effect