Cherenkov radiation is created by the movement of particles through a substance at speeds exceeding that of light.
I heard an analogy that it is essentially a sonic boom but with light instead of sound. This made me wonder whether, like in a sonic boom, which occurs at the speed of sound, the constructive interference is most prominent at exactly the speed of light and therefore creates the brightest cherenkov glow. What I mean can be seen in the picture below using the example of an airplane.
Is this too far fetched or is the luminosity indeed dependent on the velocity of the particle interacting with the substance?
Image credit: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_AWyWOFe-P9w/TTnqXS-0wEI/AAAAAAAAAYo/1ak8yAvyl1o/s1600/supersonic.bmp
Best Answer
Luminosity is the amount of electromagnetic energy a body radiates per unit of time.
I answered a related question on this a while back. Cherenkov Radiation. If you take a minute to read through that, it might persuade you that flux and medium are more important than velocity, (obviously as long as the velocity is above the speed of light in the medium).
I don't think the luminosity depends on the velocity of the particle so much it does on the flux density and the particular atomic structure of the medium through which it passes.
Image Source: Nuclear Reactor Glow
In terms of luminosity, putting more charged particles through a given medium would seem to increase the luminosity, as it is defined above, more than any other factor. I don't rule out the role of velocity in increasing luminosity, I just feel that there are more important factors.