Issue |
A&A
Volume 534, October 2011
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A57 | |
Number of page(s) | 4 | |
Section | Cosmology (including clusters of galaxies) | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201117820 | |
Published online | 03 October 2011 |
Research Note
An unlikely radio halo in the low X-ray luminosity galaxy cluster RXC J1514.9-1523
1
Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-2421, USA
e-mail: simona@astro.umd.edu
2
Joint Space-Science Institute, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-2421, USA
3
INAF – Istituto di Radioastronomia, via Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
4
Department of Astronomy, University of Bologna, via Ranzani 1, 40127 Bologna, Italy
5
Astrophysics Science Division, Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics, Code 662, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
6
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Central Tower, Sai Trinity Building, Sutarwadi Road, Pashan, Pune 411021, India
Received: 3 August 2011
Accepted: 13 September 2011
We report the discovery of a giant radio halo in the galaxy cluster RXC J1514.9-1523 at z = 0.22 with a relatively low X-ray luminosity, LX[0.1−2.4 kev] ~ 7 × 1044 erg s-1. This faint, diffuse radio source is detected with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope at 327 MHz. The source is barely detected at 1.4 GHz in a NVSS pointing that we have reanalyzed. The integrated radio spectrum of the halo is quite steep, with a slope α = 1.6 between 327 MHz and 1.4 GHz. While giant radio halos are common in more X-ray luminous cluster mergers, there is a less than 10% probability to detect a halo in systems with LX ≲ 8 × 1044 erg s-1. The detection of a new giant halo in this borderline luminosity regime can be particularly useful for discriminating between the competing theories for the origin of ultrarelativistic electrons in clusters. Furthermore, if our steep radio spectral index is confirmed by future deeper radio observations, this cluster would provide another example of the recently discovered population of ultra-steep spectrum radio halos, predicted by the model in which the cluster cosmic ray electrons are produced by turbulent reacceleration.
Key words: radiation mechanisms: non-thermal / galaxies: clusters: general / galaxies: clusters: individual: RXC J1514.9-1523 / radio continuum: general
© ESO, 2011
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