ATCA observations of the MACS- Planck Radio Halo Cluster Project: I. New detection of a radio halo in PLCK G285.0-23.7

Aims. We investigate the possible presence of diffuse radio emission in the intermediate redshift, massive cluster PLCK G285.0-23.7 (z = 0.39, M500 = 8.39 × 1014M?). Methods. Our 16 cm-band ATCA observations of PLCK G285.0-23.7 allow us to reach a rms noise level of ~11 µJy/beam on the wide-band (1....

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Aviles, G., Ferrari, C., Johnston-Hollitt, M., Pratley, L., Macario, G., Venturi, T., Brunetti, G., Cassano, R., Dallacasa, D., Intema, Hubertus, Giacintucci, S., Hurier, G., Aghanim, N., Douspis, M., Langer, M.
Format: Journal Article
Published: EDP Sciences 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/73705
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Summary:Aims. We investigate the possible presence of diffuse radio emission in the intermediate redshift, massive cluster PLCK G285.0-23.7 (z = 0.39, M500 = 8.39 × 1014M?). Methods. Our 16 cm-band ATCA observations of PLCK G285.0-23.7 allow us to reach a rms noise level of ~11 µJy/beam on the wide-band (1.1-3.1 GHz), full-resolution (~5 arcsec) image of the cluster, making it one of the deepest ATCA images yet published. We also re-image visibilities at lower resolution in order to achieve a better sensitivity to low-surface-brightness extended radio sources. Results. We detect one of the lowest luminosity radio halos known at z > 0.35, characterised by a slight offset from the well-studied 1.4 GHz radio power vs. cluster mass correlation. Similarly to most known radio-loud clusters (i.e. those hosting diffuse non-thermal sources), PLCK G285.0-23.7 has a disturbed dynamical state. Our analysis reveals a similarly elongated X-ray and radio morphology. While the size of the radio halo in PLCK G285.0-23.7 is smaller than lower redshift radio-loud clusters in the same mass range, it shows a similar correlation with the cluster virial radius, as expected in the framework of hierarchical structure formation.