Thermal radiation and charged particle acceleration

[Getterdog]

A non ionized neutral gas should still emit thermal radiation.,say xenon. Is this solely because of electron transitions ? I ask this because a lot of sources attribute the emission to charge particle acceleration,so neutral atoms should not do this,is this right?

 

[Charles Link]

Qualitatively, I think you could expect to require a tremendous quantity of Xenon gas before it had appreciable emissivity in the infrared. I can't supply any quantitative info, but I think your assessment is reasonably accurate. Perhaps in the process of a collision with other atoms, the atoms will be made somewhat dipolar. It would be interesting if anyone can supply some quantitative detail to the emissivity for thermal radiation in the non-ionized case.

 

[Getterdog]

I’m looking for a plausible model for a gas ,something that emits in the radio wave regime, As before all I could come up with for a warm mono atomic non ionized gas,was some sort or deformation of the electron cloud upon collision,with resultant relaxation. Some mechanism that doesn’t involve change of electron orbitals.just trying to see if this is accurate.

 

[DrClaude]

some sort or deformation of the electron cloud upon collision,with resultant relaxation

How don't see how this would lead to relaxation by emission of radiation.

If you want emission in the radio-wave part of the EM spectrum, you need to consider hyperfine transitions.