2

I believe both protons and electrons do produce e/m radiation if accelerated, but what about a neutron which is made up of, or at least decays to, an electron and a proton?

If accelerating a neutron does not produce e/m radiation, why not? Why do not both the components produce waves? Or is it perhaps that they in fact do, but cancel each other out?

Buzz
  • 16,031
releseabe
  • 2,224
  • 1
    There's radiation from an accelerated neutron, but it is not electric dipole radiation, so it is weaker. The lowest multipole that contributes is, I believe, the magnetic quadrupole. – Buzz Jun 12 '22 at 01:41
  • It is e/m radiation? If so, what is actually happening -- is the proton component emitting radiation and also the electron and is there in fact some sort of cancellation? If there is cancellation, why do we see anything at all? – releseabe Jun 12 '22 at 03:29
  • This question and answer explores this theme in the answers, https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/136018/how-is-it-possible-to-accelerate-a-neutron . It cannot be accelerated to high energies, but it can in the "ultra cold neutron" experiments. answer by Menger Sponge . – anna v Jun 12 '22 at 03:31
  • 1
    Related but not a duplicate: Does an accelerating electric dipole radiate? – John Rennie Jun 12 '22 at 03:41

0 Answers0