A radio ridge connecting two galaxy clusters in a filament of the cosmic web
Abstract
Galaxy clusters are the most massive gravitationally bound structures in the Universe. They grow by accreting smaller structures in a merging process that produces shocks and turbulence in the intracluster gas. We observed a ridge of radio emission connecting the merging galaxy clusters Abell 0399 and Abell 0401 with the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) telescope network at 140 megahertz. This emission requires a population of relativistic electrons and a magnetic field located in a filament between the two galaxy clusters. We performed simulations to show that a volume-filling distribution of weak shocks may reaccelerate a preexisting population of relativistic particles, producing emission at radio wavelengths that illuminates the magnetic ridge.
- Publication:
-
Science
- Pub Date:
- June 2019
- DOI:
- 10.1126/science.aat7500
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1906.07584
- Bibcode:
- 2019Sci...364..981G
- Keywords:
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- ASTRONOMY;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- Published in Science