We present a new Chandra X-ray observation of the intracluster medium in the galaxy cluster Abell 2443, hosting an ultra-steep spectrum radio source. The data reveal that the intracluster medium is highly disturbed. The thermal gas in the core is elongated along a northwest to southeast axis and there is a cool tail to the north. We also detect two X-ray surface brightness edges near the cluster core. The edges appear to be consistent with an inner cold front to the northeast of the core and an outer shock front to the southeast of the core. The southeastern edge is coincident with the location of the radio relic as expected for shock (re)acceleration or adiabatic compression of fossil relativistic electrons.
Abell 2261 (A2661) is a well-studied fossil cluster, but previous studies give contradictory results on its dynamical states, such as its X-ray central entropy and magnitude gap. To improve our understanding of its dynamical state, we conduct multi-object spectroscopic observations with Hectospec on the MMT, covering an area out to 5 virial radii from the cluster center, and get improved completeness and membership. Using this new data, we calculate multiple dynamical indicators including gaussianity, distance offset, and velocity offset. These indicators suggest that A2261 is moderately relax…
Abell 3266 is a massive and complex merging galaxy cluster that exhibits significant substructure. We present new, highly sensitive radio continuum observations of Abell 3266 performed with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (0.8$-$1.1 GHz) and the Australia Telescope Compact Array (1.1$-$3.1 GHz). These deep observations provide new insights into recently-reported diffuse non-thermal phenomena associated with the intracluster medium, including a 'wrong-way' relic, a fossil plasma source, and an as-yet unclassified central diffuse ridge, which we reveal comprises the brightest pa…
Galaxy clusters have been found to host a range of diffuse, non-thermal emission components, generally with steep, power law spectra. In this work we report on the detection and follow-up of radio halos, relics, remnant radio galaxies, and other fossil radio plasmas in Southern Sky galaxy clusters using the Murchison Widefield Array and the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder. We make use of the frequency coverage between the two radio interferometers - from 88 to $\sim 900$ MHz - to characterise the integrated spectra of these sources within this frequency range. Highlights from the …
We present original GMRT radio observations of the galaxy cluster Abell~725, at a redshift of 0.09, along with other archival observations. Our GMRT maps reveal two steep-spectrum diffuse filaments in the cluster, along with a previously reported arc-like structure, and a wide-angle tail (WAT) radio source associated with the Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG) at the periphery of the cluster. The bent morphology of the WAT indicates that its jets have been swept back by the dynamic pressure resulting from the motion of the BCG through the surrounding intracluster medium. The BCG associated with th…
We present the first detailed analysis of the radio halo in the merging galaxy cluster Abell 2256 using the LOFAR, uGMRT, and VLA. These observations combined with archival X-ray data allowed us to study the halo emission with unprecedented detail. The integrated radio emission from the entire halo is characterized by an ultra-steep spectrum, which can be described by a power law with $α_{144 \rm MHz}^{1.5 \rm GHz}=-1.63\pm0.03$, and a radial steepening in the outer regions. The halo is significantly underluminous according to the scaling relations between radio power and mass at 1.4 GHz but n…
Thermal gas in the center of galaxy clusters can show substantial motions that generate surface-brightness and temperature discontinuities known as cold fronts. The motions may be triggered by minor or off-axis mergers that preserve the cool core of the system. The dynamics of the thermal gas can also generate radio emission from the intra-cluster medium (ICM) and impact the evolution of clusters' radio sources. We aim to study the central region of Abell 1775, a system in an ambiguous dynamical state at $z=0.072$ which is known to host an extended head-tail radio galaxy, with the goal of inve…
MeerKAT observations of Abell 1775 and Abell 1795: the discovery of a hadronic radio halo?
Leiden University（莱顿大学）；University of Toronto（多伦多大学）；INAF – Istituto di Radioastronomia（意大利国家天体物理研究所射电天文学研究所）；Ruhr-Universität Bochum（波鸿鲁尔大学）；Durham University（杜伦大学）；Università di Bologna（博洛尼亚大学）；University of Hamburg（汉堡大学）
We report on the discovery of a mysterious ultra-steep spectrum (USS) synchrotron source in the galaxy cluster Abell 2877. We have observed the source with the Murchison Widefield Array at five frequencies across 72-231 MHz and have found the source to exhibit strong spectral curvature over this range as well the steepest known spectra of a synchrotron cluster source, with a spectral index across the central three frequency bands of $α= -5.97^{+0.40}_{-0.48}$. Higher frequency radio observations, including a deep observation with the Australia Telescope Compact Array, fail to detect any of the…
Abell 1033 is a merging galaxy cluster of moderate mass ($M_{500}=3.2\times10^{14} \mathrm{M}_\odot$). It hosts a broad variety of diffuse radio sources linked to different astrophysical phenomena. The most peculiar one is an elongated feature with an ultra-steep spectrum that is the prototype of the category of gently reenergized tails (GReET). Furthermore, the cluster hosts sources that were previously classified as a radio phoenix and a radio halo. We aim to improve the understanding of the cosmic-ray acceleration mechanisms in galaxy clusters in a frequency and mass range that has been poo…
We present new low-frequency ($ν= 88$-216 MHz) observations of the complex merging galaxy cluster Abell 3266. These new observations are taken with the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) in its Phase II 'extended', long-baseline configuration, offering the highest-resolution low-frequency view of the cluster to date. We report on the detection of four steep spectrum ($α\lesssim -1$ for $S_ν\propto ν^α$) extended radio sources within the cluster. We confirm the detection of a $\sim 570$ kpc radio relic to the south of the cluster, and a possible bridge of emission connecting the relic to the clust…
The radio source at the center of the galaxy cluster Abell 2626, also known as the Kite, stands out for its unique morphology composed of four, symmetric arcs. Previous studies have probed the properties of this source at different frequencies and its interplay with the surrounding thermal plasma, but the puzzle of its origin is still unsolved. We use new LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) observation from the LOFAR Two-meter Sky Survey at 144 MHz to investigate the origin of the Kite.} We present a detailed analysis of the new radio data which we combined with archival radio and X-ray observations. …
The largest galaxy clusters are observed still to be forming through major cluster-cluster mergers, often showing observational signatures such as radio relics and giant radio haloes. Using LOFAR Two-meter Sky Survey data, we present new detections of both a radio halo (with a spectral index of $α_{143}^{1400}=1.48^{+0.06}_{-0.23}$) and a likely radio relic in Abell 959, a massive cluster at a redshift of z=0.288. Using a sample of clusters with giant radio haloes from the literature (80 in total), we show that the radio halo in A959 lies reasonably well on the scaling relations between the th…
We report on the detection of a giant radio halo in the cluster Abell 3404 as well as confirmation of the radio halo observed in Abell 141 (with linear extents $\sim 770$ kpc and $\sim 850$ kpc, respectively). We use the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) in conjunction with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) and the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) to characterise the emission and intervening radio sources from $\sim100$-$1000$ MHz; power law models are fit to the spectral energy distributions with spectral indices $α_{88}^{1110} = -1.66 \pm 0.07$ and $α_{88}^{944} …
A number of radio observations have revealed the presence of large synchrotron-emitting sources associated with the intra-cluster medium. There is strong observational evidence that the emitting particles have been (re-)accelerated by shocks and turbulence generated during merger events. The particles that are accelerated are thought to have higher initial energies than those in the thermal pool but the origin of such mildly relativistic particles remains uncertain and needs to be further investigated. The galaxy cluster Abell 1914 is a massive galaxy cluster in which X-ray observations show c…
We examine the particle acceleration mechanism in the Mpc-scale bridge between Abell 399 and Abell 401 and assess in particular if the synchrotron emission originates from first-order or second-order Fermi re-acceleration. We use deep (~40 hours) LOw-Frequency ARray (LOFAR) observations from Abell 399 and Abell 401 and apply improved direction-dependent calibration to produce deep radio images at three different resolutions at 144 MHz. With a point-to-point analysis we find in the bridge trends between the radio emission from our new maps and X-ray emission from an XMM Newton observation. By a…
Clusters of galaxies are excellent laboratories for studying recurring nuclear activity in galactic nuclei since their hot gaseous medium can vastly prolong the detectability of their radio lobes via better confinement. We report here a multi-band study of the sparsely studied galaxy cluster Abell 980, based on our analysis of {\it{Chandra}} X-ray and the GMRT (150 and 325 MHz) and EVLA (1.5 GHz) radio archival data, revealing an unusually rich phenomenology. It is shown to be a quasi-relaxed cluster with a cool core ($T\sim4.2$ keV) surrounded by a hot and extensive intracluster medium (ICM) …
It is well established that particle acceleration by shocks and turbulence in the intra-cluster medium can produce cluster-scale synchrotron emitting sources. However, the detailed physics of these particle acceleration processes is still not well understood. One of the main open questions is the role of fossil relativistic electrons that have been deposited in the intra-cluster medium by radio galaxies. These synchrotron-emitting electrons are very difficult to study, as their radiative life time is only tens of Myrs at GHz frequencies, and are therefore a relatively unexplored population. De…
Extended, steep, and ultra-steep spectrum radio emission in a galaxy cluster is usually associated with recent mergers. Simulations show that radio phoenixes are aged radio galaxy lobes whose emission reactivates when a low Mach shock compresses it. A85 hosts a textbook example of a radio phoenix at about 320 kpc southwest of the cluster center. We present a new high resolution 325 MHz GMRT radio map illustrating this radio phoenix's complex and filamentary structure. The full extent of the radio structure is revealed for the first time from these radio images of A85. Using archival \textit{Ch…
Extended steep-spectrum radio emission in a galaxy cluster is usually associated with a recent merger. However, given the complex scenario of galaxy cluster mergers, many of the discovered sources hardly fit into the strict boundaries of a precise taxonomy. This is especially true for radio phoenixes that do not have very well defined observational criteria. Radio phoenixes are aged radio galaxy lobes whose emission is reactivated by compression or other mechanisms. Here, we present the detection of a radio phoenix close to the moment of its formation. The source is located in Abell 1033, a pe…
The plethora of diffuse emission in Abell 2034 as revealed by MeerKAT polarization observations
Università di Bologna（博洛尼亚大学）；IRA INAF（INAF天文研究所）；INAF - IASF Milano（INAF米兰天体物理研究所）；Université Paris-Saclay（巴黎萨克雷大学）；Université Paris Cité（巴黎西岱大学）；CEA（法国原子能和替代能源委员会）；CNRS（法国国家科学研究中心）；AIM（天体物理学和宇宙学研究所）；Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, University of Minnesota（明尼苏达大学天体物理研究所）；Astronomisches Institut der Ruhr-Universität Bochum (AIRUB)（鲁尔大学波鸿天体物理研究所）；Ruhr Astroparticle and Plasma Physics Center (RAPP Center)（鲁尔高能粒子与等离子体物理中心）；Centre for Radio Astronomy Techniques and Technologies, Department of Physics and Electronics, Rhodes University（罗德斯大学物理与电子学院射电天文技术与理论中心）；South African Radio Astronomy Observatory（南非射电天文观测台）
The remnant radio galaxies in galaxy clusters are important sources of seed relativistic electron population in the intra-cluster medium (ICM). Their occurrence and spectral properties are poorly studied. In this work we present a broadband study of the radio relic in the galaxy cluster Abell 4038 using the Upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (uGMRT). We present the uGMRT images in the bands 300 - 500 MHz and 1050 - 1450 MHz having rms noise $70\,μ$Jy beam$^{-1}$ and $30\,μ$Jy beam$^{-1}$, respectively, that are the deepest images of this field so far. A spectral analysis of the relic ove…
We detect and characterise extended, diffuse radio emission from galaxy clusters at 168 MHz within the Epoch of Reionization 0-hour field: a $45^\circ \times 45^\circ$ region of the southern sky centred on R.~A.${}= 0^\circ$, decl.${}=-27^\circ$. We detect 29 sources of interest; a newly detected halo in Abell 0141; a newly detected relic in Abell 2751; 4 new halo candidates and a further 4 new relic candidates; and a new phoenix candidate in Abell 2556. Additionally, we find 9 clusters with unclassifiable, diffuse steep-spectrum emission as well as a candidate double relic system associated w…
Based on an extensive redshift survey for galaxy cluster Abell 2029 and Coma, we measure the luminosity functions (LFs), stellar mass functions (SMFs) for the entire cluster member galaxies. Most importantly, we measure the velocity dispersion functions (VDFs) for quiescent members. The MMT/Hectospec redshift survey for galaxies in A2029 identifies 982 spectroscopic members; for 838 members we derive the central velocity dispersion from the spectroscopy. Coma is the only other cluster surveyed as densely. The LFs, SMFs and VDFs for A2029 and Coma are essentially identical. The SMFs of the clus…
