THE CHERENKOV EFFECT FOR NONROTATING EXTENDED CHARGES

In this work we analyse the Cherenkov effect for non-rotating extended charges. We obtain the energy radiated per unit path length per unit frequency by the charge facing the Cherenkov effect as a radiation rea ction problem. The underlying idea is to consider that the power radia ted by the charge is equal to the work done by the radiation reaction force. Our results are equal to those obtained using other methods (se e Buskirk F. R. and Neighbours J. R., Phys. Rev., 28 (1983) 1531; Smit h G. S., Am. J. Phys., 61 (1993) 147; Jackson J. D., Classical Electro dynamics (Wiley, New York, N.Y.) 1962, pp. 494-499, 783). In the limit of point particle we recover the usual results of the Cherenkov effec t.