Am Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:19:09 +0100 schrieb Stephen:

> 
> As an engineer I agree, so it must be true :) Does an electron have less
> energy in a circular path than a straight one. You are pumping energy
> into the system so I would have thought that it would be a gain in
> energy for the electron and a loss of energy to the magnetic field.

No. If there was no such thing as "synchrotron radiation", the electrons 
would neither gain nor lose energy in a circlular path, not different 
from a stone tied to a teather and swung around in a circle (neglecting 
the friction forces for a moment) or the earth orbiting the sun.

BUT, we have syncrotron radiation, so after one traverse of the storage 
ring, the electrons have a little less energy than before. To maintain a 
steady operation, the lost (or better: transferred to the experiment 
hall) energy must be given back to the electrons, and that's why in the 
storage ring there's a acceleration section (this time truly tangential) 
which adds energy to the travelling electrons (exactly the amount emitted 
by the radiation).

> BTW I also have problems with credit and debit when working on financial
> systems ;)

Well, as long as you know which one must be on your account... ;)

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