Discovery of inverse-Compton X-ray emission and estimate of the volume-averaged magnetic field in a galaxy group
- Title
- Discovery of inverse-Compton X-ray emission and estimate of the volume-averaged magnetic field in a galaxy group
- Creator
- Mernier F.; Werner N.; Bagchi J.; Gendron-Marsolais M.-L.; Gopal-Krishna; Guainazzi M.; Richard-Laferrie A.; Shimwell T.W.; Simionescu A.
- Description
- Observed in a significant fraction of clusters and groups of galaxies, diffuse radio synchrotron emission reveals the presence of relativistic electrons and magnetic fields permeating large scale systems of galaxies. Although, these non-thermal electrons are expected to upscatter cosmic microwave background photons up to hard X-ray energies, such inverse-Compton (IC) X-ray emission has so far not been unambiguously detected on cluster/group scales. Using deep, new proprietary XMM-Newton observations (?200 ks of clean exposure), we report a 4.6 ? detection of extended IC X-ray emission in MRC 0116 +111, an extraordinary group of galaxies at z = 0.131. Assuming a spectral slope derived from low frequency radio data, the detection remains robust to systematic uncertainties. Together with low frequency radio data from the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), this detection provides an estimate for the volume-averaged magnetic field of (1.9 0.3) ?G within the central part of the group. This value can serve as an anchor for studies of magnetic fields in the largest gravitationally bound systems in the Universe. 2023 The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Astronomical Society.
- Source
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol-524, No. 4, pp. 4939-4949.
- Date
- 2023-01-01
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Subject
- galaxies: clusters: individual: MRC 0116+111; galaxies: clusters: intracluster medium; magnetic fields; X-rays: galaxies: clusters
- Coverage
- Mernier F., NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 662, Greenbelt, 20771, MD, United States, Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, 20742-2421, MD, United States, European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Keplerlaan 1, Noordwijk, NL-2201 AZ, Netherlands, SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Niels Bohrweg 4, Leiden, NL-2333 CA, Netherlands; Werner N., Department of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlsk2, Brno, CZ-611 37, Czech Republic; Bagchi J., Department of Physics & Electronics, Christ (Deemed to be University), Hosur Road, Bengaluru, 560029, India; Gendron-Marsolais M.-L., European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Cdova 3107, Vitacura, Casilla, Santiago de Chile, 19001, Chile, Instituto de Astrofica de Andaluc (IAA-CSIC), Glorieta de la Astronom, Granada, E-18008, Spain; Gopal-Krishna, UM-DAE Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences (CEBS), Vidyanagari, Mumbai, 400098, India; Guainazzi M., European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Keplerlaan 1, Noordwijk, NL-2201 AZ, Netherlands; Richard-Laferrie A., Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, United Kingdom; Shimwell T.W., ASTRON, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, Oude Hoogeveensedijk 4, Dwingeloo, NL-7991 PD, Netherlands; Simionescu A., SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Niels Bohrweg 4, Leiden, NL-2333 CA, Netherlands, Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9513, Leiden, NL-2300 RA, Netherlands, Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, 277-8583, Japan
- Rights
- Restricted Access
- Relation
- ISSN: 358711; CODEN: MNRAA
- Format
- Online
- Language
- English
- Type
- Article
Collection
Citation
Mernier F.; Werner N.; Bagchi J.; Gendron-Marsolais M.-L.; Gopal-Krishna; Guainazzi M.; Richard-Laferrie A.; Shimwell T.W.; Simionescu A., “Discovery of inverse-Compton X-ray emission and estimate of the volume-averaged magnetic field in a galaxy group,” CHRIST (Deemed To Be University) Institutional Repository, accessed February 25, 2025, https://archives.christuniversity.in/items/show/14050.