ELECTROMAGNETIC-FIELD GENERATED BY A CHARGED-PARTICLE MOVING SLOWLY THROUGH A CONDUCTING MEDIA

We calculate the spatial distribution of the electromagnetic (EM) fiel d generated by the motion of a charged particle in a metal. Regimes of weak and strong spatial dispersion are considered analytically, and i n the intermediate case we give numerical results. It is shown that th e spatial distribution of the EM field is characterized by a certain l ength which plays the same role as the skin depth in the theory of the skin effect in metals. In the region behind the moving particle the d istribution of the EM field has the form of a ''wake.'' Inside this wa ke the strength decays by a power law, and outside it decays exponenti ally.