Related papers: Investigating Galaxy Clusters through Gamma-ray Em…
Particle acceleration in clusters of galaxies is expected to take place at both merger and accretion shocks. The electron component may be energized to energies of several TeV, and upscatter a small fraction of the photons in the cosmic…
Recent observations of galaxy clusters in radio and X-ray indicate that cosmic rays and magnetic fields may be energetically important in the intracluster medium. According to the estimates based on theses observational studies, the…
Accretion of gas onto already virialized structures like galaxy clusters should give rise to accretion shocks which can potentially accelerate cosmic rays. Here, we use the radio emission detected from Coma cluster and models of evolution…
Radio observations prove the existence of relativistic particles and magnetic field associated with the intra-cluster-medium (ICM) through the presence of extended synchrotron emission in the form of radio halos and peripheral relics. This…
Galaxy clusters host the largest particle accelerators in the Universe: Shock waves in the intracluster medium (ICM), a hot and ionised plasma, that accelerate particles to high energies. Radio observations pick up synchrotron emission in…
Observations of large-scale radio emissions prove the existence of shock accelerated cosmic-ray electrons in galaxy clusters, while the lack of detected $\gamma$-rays limits the acceleration of cosmic-ray protons in galaxy clusters. This…
X-ray observations of galaxy cluster merger shocks can be used to constrain nonthermal processes in the intracluster medium (ICM). The presence of nonthermal pressure components in the ICM, as well as the shock acceleration of particles and…
In this paper intergalatic electromagnetic cascades are used as a probe of cosmic ray sources. This is achieved as follows. In extragalactic space cosmic rays initiate electromagnetic cascades in which gamma-ray and neutrino emission…
We study the acceleration of cosmic rays by collisionless structure formation shocks with ENZO grid simulations. Data from the FERMI satellite enable the use of galaxy clusters as a testbed for particle acceleration models. Based on…
Galactic cosmic rays are commonly believed to be accelerated at supernova remnants via diffusive shock acceleration. Despite the popularity of this idea, a conclusive proof for its validity is still missing. Gamma-ray astronomy provides us…
Continuum gamma-ray emission produced by interactions of cosmic rays with interstellar matter and radiation fields is a probe of non-thermal particle populations in galaxies. After decades of continuous improvements in experimental…
The main goal of this thesis is to study the physical processes that can produce non-thermal emission at high energies in astrophysical objects capable to accelerate particles up to relativistic velocities. In particular, we have studied…
Cosmic rays (CRs) may be used to infer properties of intervening cosmic magnetic fields. Conversely, understanding the effects of magnetic fields on the propagation of high-energy CRs is crucial to elucidate their origin. In the present…
We investigate the shock acceleration of particles in massive galaxy mergers or collisions, and show that cosmic rays (CRs) can be accelerated up to the second knee energy ~0.1-1 EeV and possibly beyond, with a hard spectral index Gamma ~…
It is shown that inverse Compton gamma-rays from electrons accelerated in large scale structure formation shocks can be crucially affected by non-gravitational effects such as radiative cooling and galaxy formation, with corresponding…
The role of cosmic rays (CR) in the formation and evolution of clusters of galaxies has been much debated. It may well be related to other fundamental questions, such as the mechanism which heats and virializes the intracluster medium…
Recently, the Pierre Auger Observatory has found strong evidence supporting the extragalactic origin of the most energetic cosmic rays. Despite several observed excesses in the distribution of arrival directions for the highest energy…
The discovery of diffuse synchrotron radio emission and, more recently, of the hard X-ray (HXR) tails have triggered a growing interest about non-thermal phenomena in galaxy clusters. After a brief review of the most important evidences for…
Acceleration of cosmic-ray electrons (CRe) in the intra-cluster-medium (ICM) is probed by radio observations that detect diffuse, Mpc-scale, synchrotron sources in a fraction of galaxy clusters. Giant radio halos are the most spectacular…
We compute the contribution from clusters of galaxies to the diffuse neutrino and $\gamma-$ray background. Due to their unique magnetic-field configuration, cosmic rays (CRs) with energy $\leq10^{17}$ eV can be confined within these…