Abell 1033: Radio halo and gently reenergized tail at 54 MHz

¹ Hamburger Sternwarte, University of Hamburg, Gojenbergsweg 112, 21029 Hamburg, Germany
e-mail: henrik.edler@hs.uni-hamburg.de
² INAF – Istituto di Radioastronomia, Via P. Gobetti 101, 40129 Bologna, Italy
³ Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, PO Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
⁴ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia (DIFA), Universitá di Bologna, Via Gobetti 93/2, 40129 Bologna, Italy
⁵ ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, Oude Hoogeveensedijk 4, 7991 PD Dwingeloo, The Netherlands
⁶ Thüringer Landessternwarte, Sternwarte 5, 07778 Tautenburg, Germany

Received: 8 April 2022
Accepted: 21 July 2022

Abstract

Context. Abell 1033 is a merging galaxy cluster of moderate mass (M₅₀₀ = 3.24 × 10¹⁴ M_⊙). It hosts a broad variety of diffuse radio sources that are linked to different astrophysical phenomena. The most peculiar phenomenon is an elongated feature with an ultra-steep spectrum that is the prototype of the category of gently reenergized tails (GReET). Furthermore, the cluster hosts sources that were previously classified as a radio phoenix and a radio halo.

Aims. We aim to improve the understanding of the cosmic-ray acceleration mechanisms in galaxy clusters in a frequency and mass range that has been poorly explored so far.

Methods. To investigate the ultra-steep synchrotron emission in the cluster, we performed a full direction-dependent calibration of a LOFAR observation centered at 54 MHz. We analyzed this observation together with recalibrated data of the LOFAR Two-meter Sky Survey at 144 MHz and an archival GMRT observation at 323 MHz. We performed a spectral study of the radio galaxy tail that is connected to the GReET to test whether the current interpretation of the source agrees with observational evidence below 100 MHz. Additionally, we employed a Markov chain Monte Carlo code to fit the halo surface brightness profile at different frequencies.

Results. We report an extreme spectral curvature for the GReET. The spectral index flattens from α_{144 MHz}^{323 MHz} ≈ -4 to α^{144 MHz}_{54 MHz} ≈ -2 . This indicates the presence of a cutoff in the electron energy spectrum. At the cluster center, we detect the radio halo at 54, 144, and at lower significance at 323 MHz. We categorize it as an ultra-steep spectrum radio halo with a low-frequency spectral index α = −1.65 ± 0.17. Additionally, with a radio power of P_150 MHz = 1.22 ± 0.13 × 10²⁵ W Hz⁻¹, it is found to be significantly above the correlations of radio power to cluster mass reported in the literature. Furthermore, the synchrotron spectrum of the halo is found to further steepen between 144 and 323 MHz, in agreement with the presence of a break in the electron spectrum, which is a prediction of homogeneous reacceleration models.