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Title: DIFFUSIVE SHOCK ACCELERATION SIMULATIONS OF RADIO RELICS

Abstract

Recent radio observations have identified a class of structures, so-called radio relics, in clusters of galaxies. The radio emission from these sources is interpreted as synchrotron radiation from GeV electrons gyrating in {mu}G-level magnetic fields. Radio relics, located mostly in the outskirts of clusters, seem to associate with shock waves, especially those developed during mergers. In fact, they seem to be good structures to identify and probe such shocks in intracluster media (ICMs), provided we understand the electron acceleration and re-acceleration at those shocks. In this paper, we describe time-dependent simulations for diffusive shock acceleration at weak shocks that are expected to be found in ICMs. Freshly injected as well as pre-existing populations of cosmic-ray (CR) electrons are considered, and energy losses via synchrotron and inverse Compton are included. We then compare the synchrotron flux and spectral distributions estimated from the simulations with those in two well-observed radio relics in CIZA J2242.8+5301 and ZwCl0008.8+5215. Considering that CR electron injection is expected to be rather inefficient at weak shocks with Mach number M {approx}< a few, the existence of radio relics could indicate the pre-existing population of low-energy CR electrons in ICMs. The implication of our results on the merger shockmore » scenario of radio relics is discussed.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2]
  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Pusan National University, Pusan 609-735 (Korea, Republic of)
  2. Department of Astronomy and Space Science, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 305-764 (Korea, Republic of)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22092433
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 756; Journal Issue: 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; ACCELERATION; ASTRONOMY; ASTROPHYSICS; COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS; COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION; COSMIC ELECTRONS; COSMIC RADIO SOURCES; COSMIC RAY FLUX; GALAXY CLUSTERS; GEV RANGE; MACH NUMBER; MAGNETIC FIELDS; PHOTON EMISSION; SHOCK WAVES; SYNCHROTRON RADIATION; TIME DEPENDENCE

Citation Formats

Kang, Hyesung, Ryu, Dongsu, and Jones, T. W., E-mail: kang@uju.es.pusan.ac.kr, E-mail: ryu@canopus.cnu.ac.kr, E-mail: twj@msi.umn.edu. DIFFUSIVE SHOCK ACCELERATION SIMULATIONS OF RADIO RELICS. United States: N. p., 2012. Web. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/756/1/97.
Kang, Hyesung, Ryu, Dongsu, & Jones, T. W., E-mail: kang@uju.es.pusan.ac.kr, E-mail: ryu@canopus.cnu.ac.kr, E-mail: twj@msi.umn.edu. DIFFUSIVE SHOCK ACCELERATION SIMULATIONS OF RADIO RELICS. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/756/1/97
Kang, Hyesung, Ryu, Dongsu, and Jones, T. W., E-mail: kang@uju.es.pusan.ac.kr, E-mail: ryu@canopus.cnu.ac.kr, E-mail: twj@msi.umn.edu. 2012. "DIFFUSIVE SHOCK ACCELERATION SIMULATIONS OF RADIO RELICS". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/756/1/97.
@article{osti_22092433,
title = {DIFFUSIVE SHOCK ACCELERATION SIMULATIONS OF RADIO RELICS},
author = {Kang, Hyesung and Ryu, Dongsu and Jones, T. W., E-mail: kang@uju.es.pusan.ac.kr, E-mail: ryu@canopus.cnu.ac.kr, E-mail: twj@msi.umn.edu},
abstractNote = {Recent radio observations have identified a class of structures, so-called radio relics, in clusters of galaxies. The radio emission from these sources is interpreted as synchrotron radiation from GeV electrons gyrating in {mu}G-level magnetic fields. Radio relics, located mostly in the outskirts of clusters, seem to associate with shock waves, especially those developed during mergers. In fact, they seem to be good structures to identify and probe such shocks in intracluster media (ICMs), provided we understand the electron acceleration and re-acceleration at those shocks. In this paper, we describe time-dependent simulations for diffusive shock acceleration at weak shocks that are expected to be found in ICMs. Freshly injected as well as pre-existing populations of cosmic-ray (CR) electrons are considered, and energy losses via synchrotron and inverse Compton are included. We then compare the synchrotron flux and spectral distributions estimated from the simulations with those in two well-observed radio relics in CIZA J2242.8+5301 and ZwCl0008.8+5215. Considering that CR electron injection is expected to be rather inefficient at weak shocks with Mach number M {approx}< a few, the existence of radio relics could indicate the pre-existing population of low-energy CR electrons in ICMs. The implication of our results on the merger shock scenario of radio relics is discussed.},
doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/756/1/97},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22092433}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal},
issn = {0004-637X},
number = 1,
volume = 756,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012},
month = {Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012}
}