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Title: Deep VLA Observations of the Cluster 1RXS J0603.3+4214 in the Frequency Range of 1–2 GHz

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]; ORCiD logo [2];  [5]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [7]; ORCiD logo [4];  [2];  [2];  [8]
  1. Thuringer Landessternwarte, Tautenburg (Germany)
  2. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA (United States)
  3. Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)
  4. Leiden Univ., Leiden (The Netherlands)
  5. Univ. Hamburg, Hamburg (Germany)
  6. The Open Univ., Milton Keynes (United Kingdom)
  7. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  8. Yonsei Univ., Seoul (Korea); Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Here, we report L-band VLA observations of 1RXS J0603.3+4214, a cluster that hosts a bright radio relic, known as the Toothbrush, and an elongated giant radio halo. These new observations allow us to study the surface brightness distribution down to 1 arcsec resolution with very high sensitivity. Our images provide an unprecedented detailed view of the Toothbrush, revealing enigmatic filamentary structures. To study the spectral index distribution, we complement our analysis with published LOFAR and GMRT observations. The bright "brush" of the Toothbrush shows a prominent narrow ridge to its north with a sharp outer edge. The spectral index at the ridge is in the range –0.70 ≤ α ≤ –0.80. We suggest that the ridge is caused by projection along the line of sight. With a simple toy model for the smallest region of the ridge, we conclude that the magnetic field is below 5 μG and varies significantly across the shock front. Our model indicates that the actual Mach number is higher than that obtained from the injection index and agrees well with the one derived from the overall spectrum, namely $${ \mathcal M }={3.78}_{-0.2}^{+0.3}$$. The radio halo shows an average spectral index of α = –1.16 ± 0.05 and a slight gradient from north to south. The southernmost part of the halo is steeper and possibly related to a shock front. Excluding the southernmost part, the halo morphology agrees very well with the X-ray morphology. A power-law correlation is found between the radio and X-ray surface brightness.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1438766
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-748250; TRN: US1900517
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online), Vol. 852, Issue 2; ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 46 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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The non-coplanar baselines effect in radio interferometry: The W-Projection algorithm text January 2008
Particle Acceleration on Megaparsec Scales in a Merging Galaxy Cluster text January 2010
Re-acceleration of Nonthermal Particles at Weak Cosmological Shock Waves text January 2011
Turbulence in the ICM from mergers, cool-core sloshing and jets: results from a new multi-scale filtering approach text January 2012
Clusters of galaxies : observational properties of the diffuse radio emission text January 2012
First LOFAR observations at very low frequencies of cluster-scale non-thermal emission: the case of Abell 2256 text January 2012
Low frequency follow up of radio halos and relics in the GMRT Radio Halo Cluster Survey text January 2012
An Accurate Flux Density Scale from 1 to 50 GHz text January 2012
Giant radio relics in galaxy clusters: reacceleration of fossil relativistic electrons? text January 2013
Challenges to our understanding of radio relics: X-ray observations of the Toothbrush cluster text January 2013
Discovery of spectral curvature in the shock downstream region: CIZA J2242.8+5301 text January 2013
Revisiting scaling relations for giant radio halos in galaxy clusters text January 2013
Deep radio observations of the radio halo of the bullet cluster 1E 0657-55.8 text January 2014
Suzaku observations of a shock front tracing the western edge of the giant radio halo in the Coma Cluster text January 2015
MC^2: Mapping the Dark Matter Distribution of the "Toothbrush" Cluster RX J0603.3+4214 with Hubble Space Telescope and Subaru Weak-lensing text January 2015
The widest-frequency radio relic spectra: observations from 150 MHz to 30 GHz text January 2015
LOFAR, VLA, and Chandra observations of the Toothbrush galaxy cluster text January 2016
Advective and diffusive cosmic ray transport in galactic haloes text January 2016
A shock front at the radio relic of Abell 2744 text January 2016
A $\mathcal{M}\gtrsim3$ shock in `El Gordo' cluster and the origin of the radio relic text January 2016
Relics in galaxy clusters at high radio frequencies text January 2016
The Case for Electron Re-Acceleration at Galaxy Cluster Shocks 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
Particle reacceleration in Coma cluster: radio properties and hard X-ray emission text January 2000
The giant radio halo in Abell 2163 text January 2001
Cosmological Shock Waves and Their Role in the Large Scale Structure of the Universe text January 2003
Magnetic Field in Clusters of Galaxies text January 2004
Properties and Spectral Behaviour of Cluster Radio Halos text January 2004
Low-Frequency study of two clusters of galaxies: A2744 and A2219 text January 2007
A Cluster Merger and the Origin of the Extended Radio Emission in Abell 3667 text January 1999
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Cited By (13)

Powerful AGN jets and unbalanced cooling in the hot atmosphere of IC 4296 journal June 2019
Diffuse Radio Emission from Galaxy Clusters journal February 2019
Inside a Beehive: The Multiple Merging Processes in the Galaxy Cluster Abell 2142 journal August 2018
Characterizing the radio emission from the binary galaxy cluster merger Abell 2146 journal February 2019
Radio observations of the merging galaxy cluster Abell 520 journal February 2019
Deep Very Large Array Observations of the Merging Cluster CIZA J2242.8+5301: Continuum and Spectral Imaging journal September 2018
Polarization of radio relics in galaxy clusters journal November 2019
Ultra-steep spectrum emission in the merging galaxy cluster Abell 1914 journal February 2019
Inside a Beehive: the Multiple Merging Processes in the Galaxy Cluster Abell 2142 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
Powerful AGN jets and unbalanced cooling in the hot atmosphere of IC 4296 text January 2019
A snapshot of the oldest active galactic nuclei feedback phases journal October 2021

Figures / Tables (25)

TABLE 1(p. 5)table TABLE 1
TABLE 2(p. 5)table TABLE 2
FIG. 1(p. 6)figure FIG. 1
FIG. 2(p. 7)figure FIG. 2
TABLE 3(p. 7)table TABLE 3
FIG. 3(p. 8)figure FIG. 3
FIG. 4(p. 9)figure FIG. 4
FIG. 5(p. 10)figure FIG. 5
FIG. 6(p. 11)figure FIG. 6
FIG. 7(p. 12)figure FIG. 7
TABLE 4(p. 12)table TABLE 4
FIG. 8(p. 14)figure FIG. 8
FIG. 9(p. 15)figure FIG. 9
FIG. 10(p. 16)figure FIG. 10
FIG. 11(p. 17)figure FIG. 11
FIG. 12(p. 17)figure FIG. 12
FIG. 13(p. 18)figure FIG. 13
FIG. 14(p. 19)figure FIG. 14
FIG. 15(p. 19)figure FIG. 15
FIG. 16(p. 20)figure FIG. 16
FIG. 17(p. 21)figure FIG. 17
FIG. 18(p. 21)figure FIG. 18
rms. Negative 4.5 σrms contours are shown with dotted lines. The color bar shows spectral index $$\alpha$$ from -2.4 to -0.6. Right: Corresponding spectral index uncertainty map. The color bar shows the range of values." data-ostiid="1438766">
FIG. 19(p. 22)figure FIG. 19
FIG. 20(p. 22)figure FIG. 20
FIG. 21(p. 23)figure FIG. 21

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Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
acceleration of particles
galaxies: clusters: individual (1RXS J0603.3 + 4214)
galaxies: clusters: intracluster medium
large-scale structure of universe
magnetic fields
radiation mechanisms: non-thermal