Related papers: Shock acceleration efficiency in radio relics
Radio relics are vast synchrotron sources that sit on the outskirts of merging galaxy clusters. In this work we model their formation using a Press-Schechter formalism to simulate merger rates, analytical models for the intracluster medium…
Radio relics are giant ($\sim$Mpc) synchrotron sources that are believed to be produced by the (re)acceleration of cosmic-ray electrons (CRe) by shocks in the intracluster medium. In this numerical study, we focus on the possibility that…
We will discuss the properties and origins of halos and relics including estimates of the cluster magnetic fields, and present results for a few recently discovered halos and relics. The electrons in the suprathermal high energy tail of the…
We investigate binary mergers of galaxy clusters, the formation of shocks, and the resulting radio relics using three-dimensional simulations. The initial setup consists of two idealized spherical subclusters with a mass ratio below three,…
Radio relics, elongated, non-thermal, structures located at the edges of galaxy clusters, are the result of synchrotron radiation from cosmic-ray electrons accelerated by merger-driven shocks at the cluster outskirts. However, X-ray…
In several merging clusters of galaxies so-called cluster radio relics have been observed. These are extended radio sources which do not seem to be associated with any radio galaxy. Two competing physical mechanisms to accelerate the radio…
In the course of the formation of cosmological structures, large shock waves are generated in the intra-cluster medium. In analogy to processes in supernova remnants, these shock waves may generate a significant population of relativistic…
Diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) at relativistic shocks is expected to be an important acceleration mechanism in a variety of astrophysical objects including extragalactic jets in active galactic nuclei and gamma ray bursts. These sources…
Shocks of supernova remnants (SNRs) accelerate charged particles up to 100 TeV range via diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) mechanism. It is believed that shocks of SNRs are the main contributors to the pool of Galactic cosmic rays,…
Giant cluster radio relics are thought to form at shock fronts in the course of collisions between galaxy clusters. Via processes that are still poorly understood, these shocks accelerate or re-accelerate cosmic-ray electrons and might…
Radio relics are diffuse radio sources in galaxy clusters that are associated with merger shock waves. Detailed observations of radio relics in total intensity and in polarisation show complex structures on kiloparsec scales. The relation…
Radio relics are extended radio emission features which trace shock waves in the periphery of galaxy clusters originating from cluster mergers. Some radio relics show a highly polarised emission, which make relics an excellent probe for the…
Radio Relics are typically found to be arc-like regions of synchrotron emission in the outskirts of merging galaxy clusters, bowing out from the cluster center. In most cases they show synchrotron spectra that steepen towards the cluster…
Although radio relics are understood to originate in intracluster shock waves resulting from merger shocks, the most widely used model for describing this (re-)acceleration process at shock fronts, the diffusive shock acceleration (DSA)…
Context. The recent discovery of so-called mega radio halos as a new class of diffuse, steep-spectrum radio sources in clusters of galaxies has raised questions about the origin and the evolution of cluster-wide radio emission. Aims. We…
Motivated by the discovery of a number of radio relics we investigate the fate of fossil radio plasma during a merger of clusters of galaxies using cosmological smoothed-particle hydrodynamics simulations. Radio relics are extended,…
A new model for the, so called, `cluster radio relics' is presented (Ensslin & Gopal-Krishna 2000). Fossil radio cocoons, resulting from the former activity of radio galaxies, should contain a low energy relativistic electron population and…
Supernova remnants (SNRs) are believed to produce the majority of galactic cosmic rays (CRs). SNRs harbor non-relativistic collisionless shocks responsible for acceleration of CRs via diffusive shock acceleration (DSA), in which particles…
Radio relics are sites of electron (re)acceleration in merging galaxy clusters but the mechanism of acceleration and the topology of the magnetic field in and near relics are yet to be understood. We are carrying out an observational…
The generation of merger shocks is a natural outcome of the hierarchical process of structure formation. As time elapses cosmic structures grow in mass and size via mergers and through the continuous accretion of material onto the potential…