Logo image
Back
Deep radio observations of the radio halo of the bullet cluster 1E 0657−55.8
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Deep radio observations of the radio halo of the bullet cluster 1E 0657−55.8

Timothy W Shimwell, Shea Brown, Ilana J Feain, Luigina Feretti, B. M Gaensler and Craig Lage
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol.440(4), pp.2901-2915
2014
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stu467
url
https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu467View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

We present deep 1.1–3.1 GHz Australia Telescope Compact Array observations of the radio halo of the bullet cluster, 1E 0657−55.8. In comparison to existing images of this radio halo, the detection in our images is at higher significance. The radio halo is as extended as the X-ray emission in the direction of cluster merger but is significantly less extended than the X-ray emission in the perpendicular direction. At low significance, we detect a faint second peak in the radio halo close to the X-ray centroid of the smaller sub-cluster (the bullet) suggesting that, similarly to the X-ray emission, the radio halo may consist of two components. Finally, we find that the distinctive shape of the western edge of the radio halo traces out the X-ray detected bow shock. The radio halo morphology and the lack of strong point-to-point correlations between radio, X-ray and weak-lensing properties suggest that the radio halo is still being formed. The colocation of the X-ray shock with a distinctive radio brightness edge illustrates that the shock is influencing the structure of the radio halo. These observations support the theory that shocks and turbulence influence the formation and evolution of radio halo synchrotron emission.
 radiation mechanisms: non-thermal radio continuum general galaxies: clusters: intracluster medium acceleration of particles galaxies: clusters: individual: 1E 0657−55.8 shock waves

Details

Metrics

8 Record Views
83 Times Cited - Web of Science
Logo image