ABSTRACT
The existence of superluminal velocities and superluminal radiation sources of the type has been well known for a long time. The term "macroscopic" means here that the superluminal source is not a single point particle but must always be associated with a set of such particles. Progress in laser technology has led to particular interest in the production of superluminal sources by beams of light. The radiation emitted by a superluminal source can by no means be simply reduced to the Cerenkov effect. Under real conditions, the number of particles responsible for the motion of a superluminal source is in fact very large. The history of research concerning the radiation emitted by sources moving with velocities exceeding the phase velocity of light is rather peculiar. It has dealt with classical effects that are qualitatively clear even within the framework of basic optical concepts and can be described quantitatively using Maxwell's equations.
