The prototypical major cluster merger Abell 754. I. Calibration of MeerKAT data and radio/X-ray spectral mapping of the cluster

Abstract

Abell 754 is a rich galaxy cluster at $z=0.0543$ and is considered the prototype of a major cluster merger. Like many dynamically unrelaxed systems, it hosts diffuse radio emission on Mpc-scales. Extended synchrotron sources in the intra-cluster medium (ICM) are commonly interpreted as evidence that a fraction of the gravitational energy released during cluster mergers is dissipated into nonthermal components. Here, we use new MeerKAT UHF- and L-band observations to study nonthermal phenomena in Abell 754. These data are complemented with archival XMM-Newton observations to investigate the resolved spectral properties of both the radio and X-ray cluster emission.For the first time, we employed the pipeline originally developed to calibrate LOFAR data to MeerKAT observations. This allowed us to perform a direction-dependent calibration and obtain highly sensitive radio images in UHF- and L-bands which capture the extended emission with unprecedented detail. By using a large XMM-Newton mosaic, we produced thermodynamic maps of the ICM. Our analysis reveals that the radio halo in the cluster center is bounded by the well-known shock in the eastern direction. Furthermore, in the southwest periphery, we discover an extended radio source that we classify as a radio relic which is possibly tracing a shock driven by the squeezed gas compressed by the merger, outflowing in perpendicular directions. The low-luminosity of this relic appears compatible with direct acceleration of thermal pool electrons. We interpret the observed radio and X-ray features in the context of a major cluster merger with a nonzero impact parameter. Abell 754 is a remarkable galaxy cluster showcasing exceptional features associated with the ongoing merger event. The high quality of the new MeerKAT data motivates further work on this system.

arXiv comment18 pages, 14 figures, 3 tables (excluding Appendix); Updated to match the accepted version in A&A

References in corpus (117)

• SciPy 1.0--Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python
• The NumPy array: a structure for efficient numerical computation
• The chemical composition of the Sun
• The Astropy Project: Sustaining and Growing a Community-oriented Open-source Project and the Latest Major Release (v5.0) of the Core Package
• LOFAR: The LOw-Frequency ARray
• Collisional Plasma Models with APEC/APED: Emission Line Diagnostics of Hydrogen-like and Helium-like Ions
• Atomic Data for Astrophysics. II. New Analytic Fits for Photoionization Cross Sections of Atoms and Ions
• HI4PI: A full-sky HI survey based on EBHIS and GASS
• CASA, the Common Astronomy Software Applications for Radio Astronomy
• WSClean: an implementation of a fast, generic wide-field imager for radio astronomy
• Initial Performance of the NEOWISE Reactivation Mission
• Clusters of galaxies : observational properties of the diffuse radio emission
• The LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey - II. First data release
• Cosmic rays in galaxy clusters and their non-thermal emission
• Intracluster Medium Entropy Profiles for a Chandra Archival Sample of Galaxy Clusters
• Particle reacceleration in Coma cluster: radio properties and hard X-ray emission
• Diffuse Radio Emission from Galaxy Clusters
• What is a Cool-Core Cluster? A Detailed Analysis of the Cores of the X-ray Flux-Limited HIFLUGCS Cluster Sample
• On The Non Thermal Emission and Acceleration of Electrons in Coma and Other Clusters of Galaxies
• Off-Axis Cluster Mergers: Effects of a Strongly Peaked Dark Matter Profile
• The 2-8 keV cosmic X-ray background spectrum as observed with XMM-Newton
• A Catalog of Galaxy Clusters Observed by XMM-Newton
• Compressible Turbulence in Galaxy Clusters: Physics and Stochastic Particle Re-acceleration
• A morphological algorithm for improving radio-frequency interference detection
• Bow shock and radio halo in the merging cluster A520
• CMasher: Scientific colormaps for making accessible, informative and 'cmashing' plots
• An optimized algorithm for multi-scale wideband deconvolution of radio astronomical images
• LOFAR facet calibration
• Strong evidences of hadron acceleration in Tycho's Supernova Remnant
• Statistics of X-ray observables for the cooling-core and non-cooling core galaxy clusters
• LOFAR 150-MHz observations of the Boötes field: Catalogue and Source Counts
• The LOFAR Two Meter Sky Survey: Deep Fields, I -- Direction-dependent calibration and imaging
• Faceting for direction-dependent spectral deconvolution
• A Cluster Merger and the Origin of the Extended Radio Emission in Abell 3667
• Revisiting scaling relations for giant radio halos in galaxy clusters
• Systematic effects in LOFAR data: A unified calibration strategy
• Universal thermodynamic properties of the intracluster medium over two decades in radius in the X-COP sample
• The Case for Electron Re-Acceleration at Galaxy Cluster Shocks
• Diffusive Shock Acceleration Simulations of Radio Relics
• Subaru Weak Lensing Study of Seven Merging Clusters: Distributions of Mass and Baryons
• Deep images of cluster radio halos
• XMM-Newton Observation of the Northwest Radio Relic Region in Abell 3667
• Evidence for particle re-acceleration in the radio relic in the galaxy cluster PLCKG287.0 +32.9
• LOFAR observations of galaxy clusters in HETDEX
• The Extraordinary Amount of Substructure in the Hubble Frontier Fields Cluster Abell 2744
• A shock front in the merging galaxy cluster Abell 754: X-ray and radio observations
• Stochastic reacceleration of relativistic electrons by turbulent reconnection: a mechanism for cluster-scale radio emission ?
• The MeerKAT Galaxy Cluster Legacy Survey I. Survey Overview and Highlights
• Shock acceleration efficiency in radio relics
• Chandra Temperature Map of Abell 754 and Constraints on Thermal Conduction
• Hydrodynamic simulations of merging clusters of galaxies
• Galaxy Luminosity Functions from Deep Spectroscopic Samples of Rich Clusters
• Properties of Merger Shocks in Merging Galaxy Clusters
• Shock heating of the merging galaxy cluster A521
• Anatomy of a Merger: A Numerical Model of A754
• The Planck clusters in the LOFAR sky. I. LoTSS-DR2: new detections and sample overview
• Deep radio observations of the radio halo of the bullet cluster 1E 0657-55.8
• Low-Frequency study of two clusters of galaxies: A2744 and A2219
• The Matryoshka Run (II): Time Dependent Turbulence Statistics, Stochastic Particle Acceleration and Microphysics Impact in a Massive Galaxy Cluster
• Abell 754: A Non-Head On Collision of Subclusters
• Efficiency of Nonlinear Particle Acceleration at Cosmic Structure Shocks
• A shock at the radio relic position in Abell 115
• The beautiful mess in Abell 2255
• Radio halos in a mass-selected sample of 75 galaxy clusters. II. Statistical analysis
• MeerKAT view of the diffuse radio sources in Abell 3667 and their interactions with the thermal plasma
• Off-Center Collisions between Clusters of Galaxies
• On the connection between turbulent motions and particle acceleration in galaxy clusters
• VLA Radio Observations of the HST Frontier Fields Cluster Abell 2744: The Discovery of New Radio Relics
• Collimated synchrotron threads linking the radio lobes of ESO137-006
• Dissecting nonthermal emission in the complex multiple-merger galaxy cluster Abell 2744: Radio and X-ray analysis
• Low Frequency VLA Observations of Abell 754: Evidence for a Cluster Radio Halo and Possible Radio Relics
• Discovery of the first giant double radio relic in a galaxy cluster found in the PLANCK Sunyaev-Zel'dovich cluster survey: PLCK G287.0+32.9
• The Coma cluster at LOFAR frequencies I: insights into particle acceleration mechanisms in the radio bridge
• Radio observations of the merging galaxy cluster Abell 520
• Magnetic fields and relativistic electrons fill entire galaxy cluster
• Radio footprints of a minor merger in the Shapley Supercluster: From supercluster down to galactic scales
• Tempestuous life beyond R_500: X-ray view on the Coma cluster with SRG/eROSITA. I. X-ray morphology, recent merger, and radio halo connection
• Multiple shock structures in a radio selected cluster of galaxies
• Compression of interferometric radio-astronomical data
• Intracluster magnetic filaments and an encounter with a radio jet
• Efficient wide-field radio interferometry response
• Spiral-like structure in nearby clusters of galaxies
• Deep sub-arcsecond widefield imaging of the Lockman Hole field at 144 MHz
• Discovering the most elusive radio relic in the sky: Diffuse Shock Acceleration caught in the act?
• Jets from MRC 0600-399 bent by magnetic fields in the cluster Abell 3376
• Radio fossils, relics, and haloes in Abell 3266: cluster archaeology with ASKAP-EMU and the ATCA
• The Planck clusters in the LOFAR sky VI. LoTSS-DR2: Properties of radio relics
• A MeerKAT-meets-LOFAR Study of MS 1455.0+2232: A 590 kiloparsec 'Mini'-Halo in a Sloshing Cool-Core Cluster
• Analytical model for cluster radio relics
• Detection of diffuse radio emission at large distance from the center of the galaxy cluster A2255
• Physical properties of the X-ray gas as a dynamical diagnosis for galaxy clusters
• A candle in the wind: a radio filament in the core of the A3562 galaxy cluster
• A 3.5 Mpc-long radio relic in the galaxy cluster ClG 0217+70
• Tempestuous life beyond R500: X-ray view on the Coma cluster with SRG/eROSITA. II. Shock & Relic
• Reconstruction of Radio Relics and X-ray Tails in an Off-axis Cluster Merger: Hydrodynamical Simulations of A115
• MERGHERS Pilot: MeerKAT discovery of diffuse emission in nine massive Sunyaev-Zel'dovich-selected galaxy clusters from ACT
• MeerKAT view of the Dancing Ghosts -- Peculiar Galaxy Pair PKS 2130-538 in Abell 3785
• Bow shock in merging cluster A520: the edge of the radio halo and the electron-ion equilibration timescale
• Beyond the Ultra-deep Frontier Fields And Legacy Observations (BUFFALO): a high-resolution strong + weak-lensing view of Abell 370
• Statistical Properties of Radio Halos in Galaxy Clusters and Origin of Seed Electrons for Reacceleration
• The unusually weak and exceptionally steep radio relic in Abell 2108
• Surface brightness discontinuities in radio halos. Insights from the MeerKAT Galaxy Cluster Legacy Survey
• A Possible Shock Wave in the Intergalactic Medium of the Cluster of Galaxies A754
• Evolution of Splashback Boundaries and Gaseous Outskirts: Insights from Mergers of Self-similar Galaxy Clusters
• MeerKAT's View of the Bullet Cluster 1E 0657-55.8
• Discovery of a radio halo (and relic) in a $M_{500}<2\times 10^{14}$ M${}_{\odot }$ cluster
• A MeerKAT-meets-LOFAR study of Abell 1413: a moderately disturbed non-cool-core cluster hosting a $\sim 500$ kpc 'mini'-halo
• A merger shock in Abell 1367
• The merging galaxy cluster Abell 3266 at low radio frequencies
• SoUthern Cluster sCale Extended Source Survey (SUCCESS): A GMRT and MeerKAT study of nine massive galaxy clusters
• Diffuse Radio Emission in Abell 754
• Search for a Non-equilibrium Plasma in the Merging Galaxy Cluster Abell 754
• Mining Mini-Halos with MeerKAT I. Calibration and Imaging
• A new enigmatic radio relic in the low mass cluster Abell 2108
• MeerKAT's discovery of a radio relic in the bimodal merging cluster A2384
• A Soft X-ray Component in the Abell 754 Cluster
• A Semi-Analytical Model for the Formation and Evolution of Radio Relics in Galaxy Clusters

Cited by in corpus (5)

• XRISM constraints on the velocity power spectrum in the Coma cluster
• CHEX-MATE: New detections and properties of the radio diffuse emission in massive clusters with MeerKAT
• MeerKAT discovery of GHz radio emission extending from Abell 3017 toward Abell 3016
• Enhanced radio emission between a galaxy cluster pair
• Lossless compression of simulated radio interferometric visibilities