No Shock Across Part of a Radio Relic?
Abstract
Radio relics are Mpc-scale, steep-spectrum synchrotron sources in the periphery of merging galaxy clusters, which are produced by particle acceleration at low-Mach number (M<3) shock waves. As expected, signatures of shocks have been found across the full length of all the relics studied to date. However, archival Chandra and XMM observations have revealed a possible exception in the merging galaxy cluster ZwCl 2341.1+0000. The cluster, at z=0.27, hosts two radio relics and a central, faint, filamentary radio structure. In the archival X-ray data, the density discontinuity near the SE relic appears to span an arc shorter than the arc spanned by the relic. This startling result is in apparent contradiction with our current understanding of the origin of radio relics.We present results from recently-completed deep Chandra and VLA observations of the cluster. These observations reveal several merging subclusters, and allow a detailed study of the connection between the radio relics and the shocks in ZwCl 2341.1+0000. We discuss the complex merger scenario that triggered the shock waves, and the implications that the physical properties of the shocks have on our understanding of particle acceleration in merging clusters.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #228
- Pub Date:
- June 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AAS...22811003O