Photon Mapping Superluminal Particles

Abstract

One type of light source that remains largely unexplored in the field of light transport rendering is the light generated by superluminal particles, a phenomenon more commonly known as Cherenkov radiation [Cˇ37]. By re-purposing the Frank-Tamm equation [FT91] for rendering, the energy output of these particles can be estimated and consequently mapped to photons, making it possible to visualize the brilliant blue light characteristic of the effect. In this paper we extend a stochastic progressive photon mapper and simulate the emission of superluminal particles from a source object close to a medium with a high index of refraction. In practice, the source is treated as a new kind of light source, allowing us to efficiently reuse existing photon mapping methods.