VLA resolves unexpected radio structures in the Perseus cluster of galaxies

Abstract

We present new deep, high-resolution, 1.5 GHz observations of the prototypical nearby Perseus galaxy cluster from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. We isolate for the first time the complete tail of radio emission of the bent-jet radio galaxy NGC 1272, which had been previously mistaken to be part of the radio mini-halo. The possibility that diffuse radio galaxy emission contributes to mini-halo emission may be a general phenomenon in relaxed cool-core clusters, and should be explored. The collimated jets of NGC 1272 initially bend to the west, and then transition eastward into faint, 60 kpc-long extensions with eddy-like structures and filaments. We suggest interpretations for these structures that involve bulk motions of intracluster gas, the galaxy's orbit in the cluster including projection effects, and the passage of the galaxy through a sloshing cold front. Instabilities and turbulence created at the surface of this cold front and in the turbulent wake of the infalling host galaxy most likely play a role in the formation of the observed structures. We also discover a series of faint rings, south-east of NGC 1272, which are a type of structure that has never been seen before in galaxy clusters.

arXiv comment16 pages, 9 figures, Submitted to ApJ

References in corpus (63)

• Array Programming with NumPy
• Astropy: A Community Python Package for Astronomy
• The Astropy Project: Building an inclusive, open-science project and status of the v2.0 core package
• Shocks and cold fronts in galaxy clusters
• A very deep Chandra observation of the Perseus cluster: shocks, ripples and conduction
• A deep Chandra observation of the Perseus cluster: shocks and ripples
• Multi-Scale CLEAN deconvolution of radio synthesis images
• The Quiescent Intracluster Medium in the Core of the Perseus Cluster
• The Expanded Very Large Array -- a New Telescope for New Science
• Diffuse Radio Emission from Galaxy Clusters
• XMM-Newton observations of the Perseus Cluster I: The temperature and surface brightness structure
• M87 at 90cm: A Different Picture
• The non-coplanar baselines effect in radio interferometry: The W-Projection algorithm
• On the Nature of the NGC 1275 System
• The Case for Electron Re-Acceleration at Galaxy Cluster Shocks
• Sloshing of the Magnetized Cool Gas in the Cores of Galaxy Clusters
• Turbulence and Radio Mini-halos in the Sloshing Cores of Galaxy Clusters
• Atmospheric gas dynamics in the Perseus cluster observed with Hitomi
• A wide Chandra view of the core of the Perseus cluster
• Modeling the interaction between ICM and relativistic plasma in cooling flows: the case of the Perseus Cluster
• Integrated Polarization Properties of 3C48, 3C138, 3C147, and 3C286
• On the origin and excitation of the extended nebula surrounding NGC 1275
• Galaxy Cluster Environments of Radio Sources
• Large-scale Motions in the Perseus Galaxy Cluster
• Gas sloshing, cold fronts, Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities and the merger history of the cluster of galaxies Abell 496
• Particle acceleration in cooling flow clusters of galaxies: the case of Abell 2626
• Suppressed effective viscosity in the bulk intergalactic plasma
• Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities at the sloshing cold fronts in the Virgo cluster as a measure for the effective ICM viscosity
• Is there a giant Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in the sloshing cold front of the Perseus cluster?
• A LOFAR study of non-merging massive galaxy clusters
• Stripped elliptical galaxies as probes of ICM physics: II. Stirred, but mixed? Viscous and inviscid gas stripping of the Virgo elliptical M89
• Stripped elliptical galaxies as probes of ICM physics: I. Tails, wakes, and flow patterns in and around stripped ellipticals
• Chandra and JVLA observations of HST Frontier Fields cluster MACS J0717.5+3745
• Revealing the velocity structure of the filamentary nebula in NGC 1275 in its entirety
• Synchrotron and inverse-Compton emission from radio galaxies with non-uniform magnetic field and electron distributions
• The origin of wide-angle tailed radio galaxies
• Viscous Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities in highly ionised plasmas
• Mapping the particle acceleration in the cool core of the galaxy cluster RX J1720.1+2638
• High-resolution VLA low radio frequency observations of the Perseus cluster: radio lobes, mini-halo and bent-jet radio galaxies
• LOFAR discovery of radio emission in MACSJ0717.5$+$3745
• The Recent Growth History of the Fornax Cluster Derived from Simultaneous Sloshing and Gas Stripping: Simulating the Infall of NGC 1404
• Radio Galaxy Zoo: The Distortion of Radio Galaxies by Galaxy Clusters
• The radio properties of a complete, X-ray selected sample of nearby, massive elliptical galaxies
• Deep 230-470 MHz VLA Observations of the mini-halo in the Perseus Cluster
• The flickering nuclear activity of Fornax A
• The split in the ancient cold front in the Perseus cluster
• Particle re-acceleration and Faraday-complex structures in the RXC J1314.4-2515 galaxy cluster
• On the relation between mini-halos and AGN feedback in clusters of galaxies
• A small X-ray corona of the narrow-angle tail radio galaxy NGC 1265 soaring through the Perseus cluster
• Interactions Between Radio Galaxies and Cluster Shocks - 1: Jet Axes Aligned with Shock Normals
• Simulations of bent-double radio sources in galaxy groups
• Radio Galaxy Zoo: discovery of a poor cluster through a giant wide-angle tail radio galaxy
• A Fresh Look at Narrow-Angle Tail Radio Galaxy Dynamics, Evolution and Emissions
• Stripped elliptical galaxies as probes of ICM physics: III. Deep Chandra Observation of NGC 4552 - Measuring the Viscosity of the Intracluster Medium
• Three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamical simulations of the morphology of head-tail radio galaxies based on magnetic tower jet model
• Filaments in the southern giant lobe of Centaurus A: constraints on nature and origin from modelling and GMRT observations
• GMRT observations of IC 711 -- The longest head-tail radio galaxy known
• The High-Redshift Clusters Occupied by Bent Radio AGN (COBRA) Survey: Follow-Up Optical Imaging
• NGC 4869 in the Coma cluster: twist, wrap, overlap and bend
• Simulated Interactions Between Radio Galaxies and Cluster Shocks -- 2: Jet Axes Orthogonal to Shock Normals
• Bent Radio Jets Reveal a Stripped Interstellar Medium in NGC 1272
• The X-ray Coronae of two massive galaxies in the core of the Perseus cluster
• The Dynamics of the Wide-Angle Tailed (WAT) galaxy cluster Abell 562

Cited by in corpus (12)

• Intracluster magnetic filaments and an encounter with a radio jet
• Simulating the transport of relativistic electrons and magnetic fields injected by radio galaxies in the intracluster medium
• The galaxy group NGC 507: newly detected AGN remnant plasma transported by sloshing
• Radio fossils, relics, and haloes in Abell 3266: cluster archaeology with ASKAP-EMU and the ATCA
• Jets in radio galaxies and quasars: an observational perspective
• LOFAR high-band antenna observations of the Perseus cluster
• A candle in the wind: a radio filament in the core of the A3562 galaxy cluster
• Measuring cavity powers of active galactic nuclei in clusters using a hybrid X-ray-radio method -- A new window on feedback opened by subarcsecond LOFAR-VLBI observations
• Prospects for $\gamma$-ray observations of the Perseus galaxy cluster with the Cherenkov Telescope Array
• The structure of the giant radio fossil in the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster
• The NuSTAR View of Perseus: the ICM and a Peculiar Hard Excess
• Convolutional Deep Denoising Autoencoders for Radio Astronomical Images