A GIANT RADIO HALO IN THE MASSIVE AND MERGING CLUSTER ABELL 1351

Journal Article · Sat Oct 10 04:00:00 EDT 2009 · Astrophysical Journal (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/704/1/L54· OSTI ID:21367407

Giacintucci, S ^[1]; Venturi, T; Cassano, R; Dallacasa, D; Brunetti, G ^[2]

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1. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
2. INAF/IRA, via Gobetti 101, I-40129 Bologna (Italy)

We report on the detection of diffuse radio emission in the X-ray luminous and massive galaxy cluster A 1351 (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 A 1351 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 A 1351 in the log P {sub 1.4GHz}-log L {sub X} 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 (>10{sup 15} M{sub sun}) clusters and the presence of giant radio halos.

• OSTI ID: 21367407
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal (Online), Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal (Online) Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 704; ISSN 1538-4357
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ACCELERATION
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
EMISSION
FREQUENCY RANGE
GALAXY CLUSTERS
GHZ RANGE
GHZ RANGE 01-100
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MORPHOLOGY
RADIATIONS
TURBULENCE
X RADIATION