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Title: The case for electron re-acceleration at galaxy cluster shocks

Journal Article · · Nature Astronomy
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5]; ORCiD logo [6];  [7];  [8];  [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [9]; ORCiD logo [10];  [11];  [12];  [1]; ORCiD logo [13];  [14];  [15]
  1. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA (United States)
  2. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  3. Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)
  4. National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, Pune (India)
  5. Pusan National Univ., Busan (Korea, Republic of). Dept. of Earth Sciences
  6. Ulsan National Inst. of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan (Korea). Dept. of Physics; Korea Astronomy and Space Science Inst., Daejeon (Korea)
  7. Hamburg Univ., Hamburg (Germany). Hamburger Sternwarte
  8. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Kavli Inst. for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
  9. Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States). Dept. of Physics and JINA Center for the Evolution of the Elements
  10. Univ. de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo (Brazil). Dept. de Astronomia - Instituto de Astronomia, Geofisica e Ciencias Atmosfericas
  11. Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States); Univ. de Lisboa, Lisbon (Portugal). Instituto de Astrofisica e Ciencias do Espaco
  12. Yonsei Univ., Seoul (Korea). Dept. of Astronomy and Center for Galaxy Evolution Research
  13. Lancaster Univ. (United Kingdom). Dept. of Physics; Leiden Univ. (Netherlands). Leiden Observatory
  14. European Southern Observatory, Garching (Germany)
  15. Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States). Department of Physics and Astronomy

On the largest scales, the Universe consists of voids and filaments making up the cosmic web. Galaxy clusters are located at the knots in this web, at the intersection of filaments. Clusters grow through accretion from these large-scale filaments and by mergers with other clusters and groups. In a growing number of galaxy clusters, elongated Mpc-sized radio sources have been found. Also known as radio relics, these regions of diffuse radio emission are thought to trace relativistic electrons in the intracluster plasma accelerated by low-Mach-number shocks generated by cluster–cluster merger events. A long-standing problem is how low-Mach-number shocks can accelerate electrons so efficiently to explain the observed radio relics. Here, we report the discovery of a direct connection between a radio relic and a radio galaxy in the merging galaxy cluster Abell 3411–3412 by combining radio, X-ray and optical observations. This discovery indicates that fossil relativistic electrons from active galactic nuclei are re-accelerated at cluster shocks. Lastly, it also implies that radio galaxies play an important role in governing the non-thermal component of the intracluster medium in merging clusters.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344; NAS8-03060; 2016R1A5A1013277; 2014R1A1A2057940; HST-HF2-51345.001-A; NAS5-26555
OSTI ID:
1430992
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-703259
Journal Information:
Nature Astronomy, Vol. 1, Issue 1; ISSN 2397-3366
Publisher:
SpringerCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 129 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (70)

Observations of a pre-merger shock in colliding clusters of galaxies journal June 2019
New giant radio sources and underluminous radio halos in two galaxy clusters journal January 2018
ATCA observations of the MACS-Planck Radio Halo Cluster Project: II. Radio observations of an intermediate redshift cluster sample★ journal March 2018
The spectacular cluster chain Abell 781 as observed with LOFAR, GMRT, and XMM-Newton journal February 2019
Radio observations of the merging galaxy cluster Abell 520 journal February 2019
Ultra-steep spectrum emission in the merging galaxy cluster Abell 1914 journal February 2019
Characterizing the radio emission from the binary galaxy cluster merger Abell 2146 journal February 2019
Superdiffusion of relativistic electrons at supernova remnant shocks journal October 2017
Deep 230–470 MHz VLA observations of the mini-halo in the Perseus cluster journal June 2017
Deep LOFAR observations of the merging galaxy cluster CIZA J2242.8+5301 journal June 2017
LOFAR discovery of an ultra-steep radio halo and giant head–tail radio galaxy in Abell 1132 journal October 2017
Mystery solved: discovery of extended radio emission in the merging galaxy cluster Abell 2146 journal December 2017
LOFAR discovery of a double radio halo system in Abell 1758 and radio/X-ray study of the cluster pair journal May 2018
Understanding the radio spectral indices of galaxy cluster relics by superdiffusive shock acceleration journal June 2018
A study of spectral curvature in the radio relic in Abell 4038 using the uGMRT journal August 2018
The expanded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope journal November 2018
Search for low-frequency diffuse radio emission around a shock in the massive galaxy cluster MACS J0744.9+3927 journal February 2018
Shocks and cold fronts in merging and massive galaxy clusters: new detections with Chandra journal March 2018
Twin radio relics in the nearby low-mass galaxy cluster Abell 168 journal April 2018
Discovery of large-scale diffuse radio emission in low-mass galaxy cluster Abell 1931 journal April 2018
A massive cluster at z = 0.288 caught in the process of formation: The case of Abell 959 journal May 2019
Particle transport in hybrid PIC shock simulations: A comparison of diagnostics journal October 2019
GMRT 610 MHz observations of galaxy clusters in the ACT equatorial sample journal March 2019
Role of intracluster supernovae in radio mini-haloes in galaxy clusters journal February 2019
A merger shock in Abell 1367 journal April 2019
Halo concentration, galaxy red fraction, and gas properties of optically defined merging clusters† journal July 2019
Gentle reenergization of electrons in merging galaxy clusters journal October 2017
Chandra and JVLA Observations of HST Frontier Fields Cluster MACS J0717.5+3745 journal January 2017
MC 2 : Multiwavelength and Dynamical Analysis of the Merging Galaxy Cluster ZwCl 0008.8+5215: An Older and Less Massive Bullet Cluster journal March 2017
MC 2 : A Deeper Look at ZwCl 2341.1+0000 with Bayesian Galaxy Clustering and Weak Lensing Analyses journal May 2017
VLA Radio Observations of the HST Frontier Fields Cluster Abell 2744: The Discovery of New Radio Relics journal August 2017
Deep VLA Observations of the Cluster 1RXS J0603.3+4214 in the Frequency Range of 1–2 GHz journal January 2018
Properties of Merger Shocks in Merging Galaxy Clusters journal April 2018
Probing the Curious Case of a Galaxy Cluster Merger in Abell 115 with High-fidelity Chandra X-Ray Temperature and Radio Maps journal May 2018
Simulated Analogs of Merging Galaxy Clusters Constrain the Viewing Angle journal August 2018
Deep Very Large Array Observations of the Merging Cluster CIZA J2242.8+5301: Continuum and Spectral Imaging journal September 2018
A Cool Core Disturbed: Observational Evidence for the Coexistence of Subsonic Sloshing Gas and Stripped Shock-heated Gas around the Core of RX J1347.5–1145 journal October 2018
Evidence for a Merger-induced Shock Wave in ZwCl 0008.8+5215 with Chandra and Suzaku journal March 2019
Brightest Cluster Galaxy Alignments in Merging Clusters journal March 2019
Multiwavelength Analysis of the Merging Galaxy Cluster A115 journal April 2019
Interactions between Radio Galaxies and Cluster Shocks. I. Jet Axes Aligned with Shock Normals journal May 2019
Merging Cluster Collaboration: A Panchromatic Atlas of Radio Relic Mergers journal September 2019
Forming One of the Most Massive Objects in the Universe: The Quadruple Merger in Abell 1758 journal September 2019
A Fresh Look at Narrow-angle Tail Radio Galaxy Dynamics, Evolution, and Emissions journal October 2019
Simulated Interactions between Radio Galaxies and Cluster Shocks. II. Jet Axes Orthogonal to Shock Normals journal November 2019
Chandra Observations of the Spectacular A3411–12 Merger Event journal December 2019
Shocked Narrow-angle Tail Radio Galaxies: Simulations and Emissions journal December 2019
Merging Cluster Collaboration: Optical and Spectroscopic Survey of a Radio-selected Sample of 29 Merging Galaxy Clusters journal February 2019
Deep 230-470 MHz VLA observations of the mini-halo in the Perseus cluster text January 2017
Mystery solved: discovery of extended radio emission in the merging galaxy cluster Abell 2146 text January 2018
Deep 230-470 MHz VLA Observations of the mini-halo in the Perseus Cluster text January 2017
Deep LOFAR observations of the merging galaxy cluster CIZA J2242.8+5301 text January 2017
VLA Radio Observations of the HST Frontier Fields Cluster Abell 2744: The Discovery of New Radio Relics text January 2017
Gentle re-energisation of electrons in merging galaxy clusters text January 2017
Search for low-frequency diffuse radio emission around a shock in the massive galaxy cluster MACS J0744.9+3927 text January 2018
Twin radio relics in a near-by low-mass galaxy cluster Abell 168 text January 2018
LOFAR discovery of a double radio halo system in Abell 1758 and radio/X-ray study of the cluster pair text January 2018
Merging Cluster Collaboration: A Panchromatic Atlas of Radio Relic Mergers text January 2018
A study of spectral curvature in the radio relic in Abell 4038 using the uGMRT text January 2018
Cool core disturbed: Observational evidence for coexistence of sub-sonic sloshing gas and stripped shock-heated gas around the core of RX J1347.5-1145 text January 2018
Brightest Cluster Galaxy Alignments in Merging Clusters text January 2018
Ultra-steep spectrum emission in the merging galaxy cluster Abell 1914 text January 2018
Radio observations of the merging galaxy cluster Abell 520 text January 2018
Halo Concentration, Galaxy Red Fraction, and Gas Properties of Optically-defined Merging Clusters text January 2018
The Expanded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope text January 2019
Role of intracluster supernovae in radio mini-halos in galaxy clusters text January 2019
A merger shock in Abell 1367 text January 2019
A Massive Cluster at z = 0.288 Caught in the Process of Formation: The Case of Abell 959 text January 2019
A Fresh Look at Narrow-Angle Tail Radio Galaxy Dynamics, Evolution and Emissions text January 2019
Shocked Narrow-Angle Tail Radio Galaxies: Simulations and Emissions text January 2019

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