Related papers: Non-linear shock acceleration and high energy gamm…
Subcluster interactions within clusters of galaxies produce shocks that accelerate nonthermal particles. We treat Fermi acceleration of nonthermal electrons and protons by injecting power-law distributions of particles during the merger…
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…
The nonthermal radiation observed from a handfull of clusters of Galaxies is the proof that particle acceleration occurs in the intracluster medium. It is often believed that shock surfaces associated with either mergers of clusters of…
Cluster mergers drive shocks into the intracluster medium which heat and compress the thermal gas. X-ray observations of shocks can be used to determine the geometry and kinematics of the merger. Merger shocks should also accelerate…
Nonthermal radiation is observed from clusters of galaxies in the radio, hard X-rays, and possibly in the soft X-ray/UV bands. While it is known that radiative processes related to nonthermal electrons are responsible for this radiation,…
Clusters of galaxies generally form by the gravitational merger of smaller clusters and groups. Major cluster mergers are the most energetic events in the Universe since the Big Bang. Mergers drive shocks into the intracluster gas, and…
We have developed a numerical model for the temporal evolution of particle and photon spectra resulting from nonthermal processes at the shock fronts formed in merging clusters of galaxies. Fermi acceleration is approximated by injecting…
Clusters of galaxies generally form by the gravitational merger of smaller clusters and groups. Major cluster mergers are the most energetic events in the Universe since the Big Bang. Mergers drive shocks into the intracluster gas, and…
We have developed a numerical model for the temporal evolution of particle and photon spectra resulting from nonthermal processes at the shock fronts formed in merging clusters of galaxies. Fermi acceleration is approximated by injecting…
Clusters of galaxies generally form by the gravitational merger of smaller clusters and groups. Mergers drive shocks in the intracluster gas which heat the intracluster gas. Mergers disrupt cluster cooling cores. Mergers produce large,…
The search for gamma radiation in clusters of galaxies represents a precious tool to investigate the history of these large scale structures. Clusters or sources within them accelerate cosmic rays, as demonstrated by the detection of radio…
In the next years the FERMI gamma ray telescope and the Cherenkov telescopes will put very stringent constraints to models of gamma ray emission from galaxy clusters providing crucial information on relativistic particles in the…
The nonthermal radiation observed from a handfull of clusters of galaxies (CG) is the proof that particle acceleration occurs in the intracluster medium (ICM). It is often believed that shock surfaces associated with either mergers of CG,…
Galaxy clusters grow by gas accretion, mostly from mergers of substructures, which release powerful shock waves into cosmic plasmas and convert a fraction of kinetic energy into thermal energy, amplification of magnetic fields and into the…
First order Fermi acceleration at astrophysical shocks is often invoked as a mechanism for the generation of non-thermal particles. This mechanism is especially simple in the approximation that the accelerated particles behave like test…
Clusters of galaxies generally form by the gravitational merger of smaller clusters and groups. Major cluster mergers are the most energetic events in the Universe since the Big Bang. The basic properties of cluster mergers and their…
FERMI (formely GLAST) will shortly provide crucial information on relativistic particles in galaxy clusters. We discuss non-thermal emission in the context of general calculations in which relativistic particles (protons and secondary…
A numerical simulation model of the injection and cooling of nonthermal particles energized by shocks formed in merging clusters of galaxies is used to fit radio and X-ray data observed from the Coma cluster of galaxies. The results are…
Particle acceleration is expected to take place at shocks that form during the process of large scale structure formation. Electrons accelerated at such shocks can upscatter a small fraction of the photons in the cosmic microwave background…
All sufficiently massive clusters of galaxies are expected to be surrounded by strong accretion shocks, where protons can be accelerated to $\sim 10^{18}$-$10^{19}$ eV under plausible conditions. Such protons interact with the cosmic…