Galaxies (Dec 2021)

Spectral Index of the Filaments in the Abell 523 Radio Halo

  • Valentina Vacca,
  • Federica Govoni,
  • Richard A. Perley,
  • Matteo Murgia,
  • Ettore Carretti,
  • Francesca Loi,
  • Luigina Feretti,
  • Gabriele Giovannini

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies9040112
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 4
p. 112

Abstract

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The galaxy cluster Abell 523 hosts a radio halo characterized by the presence of two filaments transversely located with respect to the cluster merger axis. In this paper, we present a spectral index image of these filaments between 1.410 and 1.782 GHz obtained with Jansky Very Large Array observations. We find a steepening of the spectral index of the filaments at frequencies ≳1.4 GHz and an indication that bright patches are characterized by flat spectral indices. Our results are consistent with a scenario of highly-efficient turbulence induced by merger phenomena.

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