Fast and "lossless" propagation of relativistic electrons along magnetized nonthermal filaments in galaxy clusters and the Galactic Center region

Vol. 705
2. Astrophysical processes

Fast and "lossless" propagation of relativistic electrons along magnetized nonthermal filaments in galaxy clusters and the Galactic Center region

This paper addresses a long-standing tension in cluster astrophysics: how relativistic electrons maintain coherence over hundreds of kiloparsecs without extremely fine-tuned reacceleration. It proposes that relativistic electrons are “fast-tracked” along long, low-beta magnetic filaments without strong radiative and adiabatic losses. The paper provides concrete observational tests and unifies multiple environments under a common physical framework. Figure 3 demonstrates how the proposed rapid transport naturally explains the remarkably uniform spectra of extended radio filaments, using the spectral-index gradients along Tail C in Abell 2256 as an illustrative example.