Efficiency of Turbulent Reacceleration by Solenoidal Turbulence and Its Application to the Origin of Radio Megahalos in Cluster Outskirts

Abstract

Recent radio observations with the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) discovered diffuse emission extending beyond the scale of classical radio halos. The presence of such megahalos indicates that the amplification of the magnetic field and acceleration of relativistic particles are working in the cluster outskirts, presumably due to the combination of shocks and turbulence that dissipate energy in these regions. Cosmological magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulations of galaxy clusters suggest that solenoidal turbulence has a significant energy budget in the outskirts of galaxy clusters. In this paper, we explore the possibility that this turbulence contributes to the emission observed in megahalos through second-order Fermi acceleration of relativistic particles and magnetic field amplification by the dynamo. We focus on the case of A2255 and find that this scenario can explain the basic properties of the diffuse emission component that is observed under assumptions that are used in previous literature. More specifically, we conduct a numerical follow-up, solving the Fokker–Planck equation by using a snapshot of an MHD simulation and deducing the synchrotron brightness integrated along the lines of sight. We find that a volume-filling emission, ranging between 30% and almost 100% of the projected area, depending on our assumptions on the particle diffusion and transport, can be detected at LOFAR sensitivities. Assuming a magnetic field B ∼ 0.2 μG, as derived from a dynamo model applied to the emitting region, we find that the observed brightness can be matched when ∼1% of the solenoidal turbulent energy flux is channeled into particle acceleration.