Synchrotron radiation is produced by electrons traveling at nearly the speed of light in a magnetic field. Cyclotron radiation is a similar kind of radiation, but produced by slower, non-relativistic electrons in magnetic fields. Thermal Bremstrahlung radiation is produced by electrons in a plasma as they zip by charged nuclei. In all of the above cases both protons and electrons can produce these kinds of radiation, but with a lot lower efficiency for the heavier protons. All of these radiations can extend from x-rays to radio waves, and their spectral shapes are very different from each other and from black body emission, which is how we distinguish them.
Atoms can produce line emission by electrons making quantum transitions within the atoms.
This is light at specific wavelengths and not in a continuum. Plasmas which contain magnetic fields can also generate various kinds of radio frequency 'plasma radiation' and resonance radiation as charged particles are scattered coherently and accelerated by magnetic fields. Annihilation radiation is a type of line emission produced when matter and anti-matter get together and only appear at gamma ray frequencies. Return to the Ask the Space Scientist main page.