6,510 research outputs found
The intracluster magnetic field power spectrum in Abell 2382
The goal of this work is to put constraints on the strength and structure of
the magnetic field in the cluster of galaxies A2382. We investigate the
relationship between magnetic field and Faraday rotation effects in the
cluster, using numerical simulations as a reference for the observed
polarization properties. For this purpose we present Very Large Array
observations at 20 cm and 6 cm of two polarized radio sources embedded in
A2382, and we obtained detailed rotation measure images for both of them. We
simulated random three-dimensional magnetic field models with different power
spectra and thus produced synthetic rotation measure images. By comparing our
simulations with the observed polarization properties of the radio sources, we
can determine the strength and the power spectrum of intra-cluster magnetic
field fluctuations that best reproduce the observations. The data are
consistent with a power law magnetic field power spectrum with the Kolmogorov
index , while the outer scale of the magnetic field fluctuations is of
the order of 35 kpc. The average magnetic field strength at the cluster center
is about 3 G and decreases in the external region as the square root of
the electron gas density. The average magnetic field strength in the central 1
Mpc is about 1 G.Comment: Comments: 18 pages, 13 figures, accepted by A&A. For a version with
high quality figures, see http://erg.ca.astro.it/preprints/guidetti2007
Structure of the magnetoionic medium around the FR Class I radio galaxy 3C 449
The goal of this work is to constrain the strength and structure of the
magnetic field associated with the environment of the radio source 3C 449,
using observations of Faraday rotation, which we model with a structure
function technique and by comparison with numerical simulations. We assume that
the magnetic field is a Gaussian, isotropic random variable and that it is
embedded in the hot intra-group plasma surrounding the radio source. For this
purpose, we present detailed rotation measure images for the polarized radio
source 3C 449, previously observed with the Very Large Array at seven
frequencies between 1.365 and 8.385 GHz. We quantify the statistics of the
magnetic-field fluctuations by deriving rotation measure structure functions,
which we fit using models derived from theoretical power spectra. We quantify
the errors due to sampling by making multiple two-dimensional realizations of
the best-fitting power spectrum.We also use depolarization measurements to
estimate the minimum scale of the field variations. We then make
three-dimensional models with a gas density distribution derived from X-ray
observations and a random magnetic field with this power spectrum. Under these
assumptions we find that both rotation measure and depolarization data are
consistent with a broken power-law magnetic-field power spectrum, with a break
at about 11 kpc and slopes of 2.98 and 2.07 at smaller and larger scales
respectively. The maximum and minimum scales of the fluctuations are around 65
and 0.2 kpc, respectively. The average magnetic field strength at the cluster
centre is 3.5 +/-1.2 micro-G, decreasing linearly with the gas density within
about 16 kpc of the nucleus.Comment: 19 pages; 14 figures; accepted for publication on A&A. For a high
quality version use ftp://ftp.eso.org/pub/general/guidetti
Testing the radio halo-cluster merger scenario. The case of RXCJ2003.5-2323
We present a combined radio, X-ray and optical study of the galaxy cluster
RXCJ2003.5-2323. The cluster hosts one of the largest, most powerful and
distant giant radio halos known to date, suggesting that it may be undergoing a
strong merger process. The aim of our multiwavelength study is to investigate
the radio-halo cluster merger scenario. We studied the radio properties of the
giant radio halo in RXCJ2003.5-2323 by means of new radio data obtained at 1.4
GHz with the Very Large Array, and at 240 MHz with the Giant Metrewave Radio
Telescope, in combination with previously published GMRT data at 610 MHz. The
dynamical state of the cluster was investigated by means of X-ray Chandra
observations and optical ESO--NTT observations. Our study confirms that
RXCJ2003.5-2323 is an unrelaxed cluster. The unusual filamentary and clumpy
morphology of the radio halo could be due to a combination of the filamentary
structure of the magnetic field and turbulence in the inital stage of a cluster
merger.Comment: 10 page, 10 figures, accepted for publication on A&
Magnetic Fields and Faraday Rotation in Clusters of Galaxies
We present a numerical approach to investigate the relationship between
magnetic fields and Faraday rotation effects in clusters of galaxies. We can
infer the structure and strength of intra-cluster magnetic fields by comparing
our simulations with the observed polarization properties of extended cluster
radio sources such as radio galaxies and halos. We find the observations
require a magnetic field which fluctuates over a wide range of spatial scales
(at least one order of magnitude). If several polarized radio sources are
located at different projected positions in a galaxy cluster, as is the case
for A119, detailed Faraday rotation images allow us to constrain both the
magnetic field strength and the slope of the power spectrum. Our results show
that the standard analytic expressions applied in the literature overestimate
the cluster magnetic field strengths by a factor of about 2. We investigate the
possible effects of our models on beam depolarization of radio sources whose
radiation traverses the magnetized intracluster medium. Finally, we point out
that radio halos may provide important information about the spatial power
spectrum of the magnetic field fluctuations on large scales. In particular,
different values of the index of the power spectrum produce very different
total intensity and polarization brightness distributions.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in A&
An elusive radio halo in the merging cluster Abell 781?
Deep radio observations of the galaxy cluster Abell 781 have been carried out
using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope at 325 MHz and have been compared to
previous 610 MHz observations and to archival VLA 1.4 GHz data. The radio
emission from the cluster is dominated by a diffuse source located at the
outskirts of the X-ray emission, which we tentatively classify as a radio
relic. We detected residual diffuse emission at the cluster centre at the level
of S(325 MHz)~15-20 mJy. Our analysis disagrees with Govoni et al. (2011), and
on the basis of simple spectral considerations we do not support their claim of
a radio halo with flux density of 20-30 mJy at 1.4 GHz. Abell 781, a massive
and merging cluster, is an intriguing case. Assuming that the residual emission
is indicative of the presence of a radio halo barely detectable at our
sensitivity level, it could be a very steep spectrum source.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 table - Accepted for publication on Monthly
Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Letter
A giant radio halo in the massive and merging cluster Abell 1351
We report on the detection of diffuse radio emission in the X-ray luminous
and massive galaxy cluster A1351 (z=0.322) using archival Very Large Array data
at 1.4 GHz. Given its central location, morphology, and Mpc-scale extent, we
classify the diffuse source as a giant radio halo. X-ray and weak lensing
studies show A1351 to be a system undergoing a major merger. The halo is
associated with the most massive substructure. The presence of this source is
explained assuming that merger-driven turbulence may re-accelerate high-energy
particles in the intracluster medium and generate diffuse radio emission on the
cluster scale. The position of A1351 in the logP - logL plane
is consistent with that of all other radio-halo clusters known to date,
supporting a causal connection between the unrelaxed dynamical state of massive
() clusters and the presence of giant radio halos.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, proof corrections include
The Fundamental Plane of Radio Galaxies
We collected photometrical and dynamical data for 73 low red-shift (z<0.2)
Radio Galaxies (LzRG) in order to study their Fundamental Plane (FP). For 22
sources we also present new velocity dispersion data, that complement the
photometric data given in our previous study of LzRG (Govoni et al. 2000a). It
is found that the FP of LzRG is similar to the one defined by non-active
elliptical galaxies, with LzRG representing the brightest end of the population
of early type galaxies. Since the FP mainly reflects the virial equilibrium
condition, our result implies that the global properties of early--type
galaxies (defining the FP) are not influenced by the presence of gas accretion
in the central black hole. This is fully in agreement with the recent results
in black hole demography, showing that virtually all luminous spheroidal
galaxies host a massive black hole and therefore may potentially become active.
We confirm and extend to giant ellipticals the systematic increase of the
mass-to-light ratio with galaxy luminosity.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in A&
XMM-Newton observations of the Coma cluster relic 1253+275
Using XMM Newton data, we investigate the nature of the X-ray emission in the
radio relic 1253+275 in the Coma cluster. We determine the conditions of the
cluster gas to check current models of relic formation, and we set constraints
on the intracluster magnetic field. Both imaging and spectral analysis are
performed, and the X-ray emission is compared with the radio emission. We found
that the emission is of thermal origin and is connected to the sub-group around
NGC 4839. The best-fit gas temperature in the region of the relic and in its
vicinity is in the range 2.8 - 4.0 keV, comparable to the temperature of the
NGC 4839 sub-group. We do not detect any high temperature gas, resulting from a
possible shock in the region of the Coma relic. We therefore suggest that the
main source of energy for particles radiating in the radio relic is likely to
be turbulence. From the X-ray data, we can also set a flux upper limit of 3.2 x
10e-13 erg/cm^2 s, in the 0.3 - 10 keV energy range, to the non-thermal
emission in the relic region. This leads to a magnetic field B > 1.05 microG.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Accepted for publication in A&A Letter
The Coma cluster magnetic field from Faraday rotation measures
The aim of the present work is to constrain the Coma cluster magnetic field
strength, its radial profile and power spectrum by comparing Faraday Rotation
Measure (RM) images with numerical simulations of the magnetic field. We have
analyzed polarization data for seven radio sources in the Coma cluster field
observed with the Very Large Array at 3.6, 6 and 20 cm, and derived Faraday
Rotation Measures with kiloparsec scale resolution. Random three dimensional
magnetic field models have been simulated for various values of the central
intensity B_0 and radial power-law slope eta, where eta indicates how the field
scales with respect to the gas density profile. We derive the central magnetic
field strength, and radial profile values that best reproduce the RM
observations. We find that the magnetic field power spectrum is well
represented by a Kolmogorov power spectrum with minimum scale ~ 2 kpc and
maximum scale ~ 34 kpc. The central magnetic field strength and radial slope
are constrained to be in the range (B_0=3.9 microG; eta=0.4) and (B_0=5.4
microG; eta=0.7) within 1sigma. The best agreement between observations and
simulations is achieved for B_0=4.7 microG; eta=0.5. Values of B_0>7 microG and
1.0 are incompatible with RM data at
99 % confidence level.Comment: 23 pages, 21 figures. Higher resolution available at
http://www.ira.inaf.it/~bonafede/paper.pdf. A&A accepte
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