Slide 36 of 59
Notes:
In this section, we will be considering radiation mechanisms involving particles. It must be borne in mind that the outflow of particles results in an interaction with the magnetic field.
In astrophysical conditions, emission mechanisms can be divided into coherent and incoherent, depending on whether or not the total radiation intensity can exceed the summed intensity of the spontaneous radiation of individual particles.
Coherent light sources emit waves of the same frequency and the same phase, ie waves combine crest-to-crest with each other. The total amplitude of the summed wave is proportional to the number of sources and the total intensity is proportional to the square of the number of sources.