X-ray and neutron emissions by shock waves

Abstract

Experimentally observed X-ray and neutron emissions by acoustic perturbations of liquids and solids look paradoxical. All acoustically driven effects are extremely adiabatic with respect to typical times $\hbar/1keV\sim 10^{-18}s$ for X-ray and $\hbar/1MeV\sim 10^{-21}s$ for neutron processes. A direct application of this mechanism would result in negligible (exponentially small) emission probabilities. As argued in this paper, high energy process of X-ray and neutron emissions are caused by electron transitions in deep ($\sim 1MeV$) and narrow ($\sim 10^{-11}cm$) anomalous well created by the local reduction of electromagnetic zero point energy. The formation of anomalous states cannot be described solely by quantum electrodynamics since the mechanism of electron mass generation is involved.