371 research outputs found
Tailed radio galaxies as tracers of galaxy clusters. Serendipitous discoveries with the GMRT
We report on the discovery of four new radio galaxies with tailed morphology.
Tailed radio galaxies are generally found in rich environments, therefore their
presence can be used as tracer of a cluster. The radio galaxies were found in
the fields of Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) observations carried out
at 610 MHz and 327 MHz devoted to other studies. We inspected the literature
and archives in the optical and X-ray bands to search for galaxy clusters or
groups hosting them. All the tailed radio galaxies serendipitously found in the
GMRT fields are located in rich environments. Two of them belong to the
candidate cluster NCS J090232+204358, located at z(phot)=0.0746; one belongs to
the cluster MaxBCGJ223.97317+22.15620 at z(phot)=0.2619; finally we suggest
that the fourth one is probing a galaxy cluster at z=0.1177, located behind
A262, and so far undetected in any band. Our results strenghten the relevance
of high sensitivity and high resolution radio data in the detection of galaxy
clusters at intermediate redshift.Comment: 8 pages, accepted for publication on Astronomy & Astrophysic
The merging galaxy cluster A520 --- a broken-up cool core, a dark subcluster, and an X-ray channel
We present results from a deep Chandra X-ray observation of a merging galaxy
cluster A520. A high-resolution gas temperature map, after the subtraction of
the cluster-scale emission, reveals a long trail of dense, cool clumps ---
apparently the fragments of a cool core that has been completely stripped from
the infalling subcluster by ram pressure. In this scenario, we can assume that
the clumps are still connected by the magnetic field lines. The observed
temperature variations imply that thermal conductivity is suppressed by a
factor >100 across the presumed direction of the magnetic field (as found in
other clusters), and is also suppressed -along- the field lines by a factor of
several. Two massive clumps in the periphery of A520, visible in the weak
lensing mass map and the X-ray image, have apparently been completely stripped
of gas during the merger, but then re-accreted the surrounding high-entropy gas
upon exit from the cluster. An X-ray hydrostatic mass estimate for one of the
clumps (that has simple geometry) agrees with the lensing mass. Its current gas
mass to total mass ratio is very low, 1.5-3%, which makes it a "dark
subcluster". We also found a curious low X-ray brightness channel (likely a
low-density sheet in projection) going across the cluster along the direction
of an apparent secondary merger. The channel may be caused by plasma depletion
in a region of an amplified magnetic field (with plasma ). The
shock in A520 will be studied in a separate paper.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 13 pages, 7 figures. (Author
affiliation updated (v2), updated with final revisions prior to publication
(v3).
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
Shock heating of the merging galaxy cluster A521
A521 is an interacting galaxy cluster located at z=0.247, hosting a low
frequency radio halo connected to an eastern radio relic. Previous Chandra
observations hinted at the presence of an X-ray brightness edge at the position
of the relic, which may be a shock front. We analyze a deep observation of A521
recently performed with XMM-Newton in order to probe the cluster structure up
to the outermost regions covered by the radio emission. The cluster atmosphere
exhibits various brightness and temperature anisotropies. In particular, two
cluster cores appear to be separated by two cold fronts. We find two shock
fronts, one that was suggested by Chandra and that is propagating to the east,
and another to the southwestern cluster outskirt. The two main interacting
clusters appear to be separated by a shock heated region, which exhibits a
spatial correlation with the radio halo. The outer edge of the radio relic
coincides spatially with a shock front, suggesting this shock is responsible
for the generation of cosmic ray electrons in the relic. The propagation
direction and Mach number of the shock front derived from the gas density jump,
M = 2.4 +/- 0.2, are consistent with expectations from the radio spectral
index, under the assumption of Fermi I acceleration mechanism
Heating the hot atmospheres of galaxy groups and clusters with cavities: the relationship between jet power and low-frequency radio emission
We present scaling relations between jet power and radio power measured using
the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), Chandra and XMM-Newton, for a
sample of 9 galaxy groups combined with the Birzan et al. sample of clusters.
Cavity power is used as a proxy for mechanical jet power. Radio power is
measured at 235 MHz and 1.4 GHz, and the integrated 10 MHz-10 GHz radio
luminosity is estimated from the GMRT 610-235 MHz spectral index. The use of
consistently analysed, high resolution low-frequency radio data from a single
observatory makes the radio powers for the groups more reliable than those used
by previous studies, and the combined sample covers 6-7 decades in radio power
and 5 decades in cavity power. We find a relation of the form Pjet proportional
to Lradio^~0.7 for integrated radio luminosity, with a total scatter of
sigma_Lrad=0.63 and an intrinsic scatter of sigma_i,Lrad=0.59. A similar
relation is found for 235 MHz power, but a slightly flatter relation with
greater scatter is found for 1.4 GHz power, suggesting that low-frequency or
broad band radio measurements are superior jet power indicators. We find our
low-frequency relations to be in good agreement with previous observational
results. Comparison with jet models shows reasonable agreement, which may be
improved if radio sources have a significant low-energy electron population. We
consider possible factors which could bias our results or render them more
uncertain, and find that correcting for such factors in those groups we are
able to study in detail leads to a flattening of the Pjet:Lradio relation.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 7 pages, 3 figure
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