文章基本信息

标题：Relativistic inverse Compton scattering of photons from the early universe
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作者：Siddharth Malu ; Abhirup Datta ; Sergio Colafrancesco 等
期刊名称：Scientific Reports
电子版ISSN：2045-2322
出版年度：2017
卷号：7
期号：1
页码：16918
DOI：10.1038/s41598-017-17104-8
语种：English
出版社：Springer Nature
摘要：Electrons at relativistic speeds, diffusing in magnetic fields, cause copious emission at radio frequencies in both clusters of galaxies and radio galaxies through non-thermal radiation emission called synchrotron. However, the total power radiated through this mechanism is ill constrained, as the lower limit of the electron energy distribution, or low-energy cutoffs, for radio emission in galaxy clusters and radio galaxies, have not yet been determined. This lower limit, parametrized by the lower limit of the electron momentum - pmin - is critical for estimating the total energetics of non-thermal electrons produced by cluster mergers or injected by radio galaxy jets, which impacts the formation of large-scale structure in the universe, as well as the evolution of local structures inside galaxy clusters. The total pressure due to the relativistic, non-thermal population of electrons can be measured using the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect, and is critically dependent on pmin, making the measurement of this non-thermal pressure a promising technique to estimate the electron low-energy cutoff. We present here the first unambiguous detection of this Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect for a non-thermal population of electrons in a radio galaxy jet/lobe, located at a significant distance away from the center of the Bullet cluster of galaxies.