Rotation Measure synthesis applied on synthetic SKA images of galaxy clusters

TL;DR

This study demonstrates the application of RM-synthesis on synthetic SKA images of galaxy clusters, showing general agreement with input parameters and highlighting potential impacts on understanding cluster magnetic fields.

Contribution

First application of RM-synthesis on synthetic SKA images of galaxy clusters, analyzing its effectiveness and limitations for studying magnetic fields.

Findings

RM-synthesis results largely agree with input parameters

Discrepancies identified between analysis and simulations

Potential of SKA1-MID for magnetic field studies in clusters

Abstract

Future observations with next generation radio telescopes will help us to understand the presence and the evolution of magnetic fields in galaxy clusters through the determination of the so-called Rotation Measure (RM). In this work, we applied the RM-synthesis technique on synthetic SKA1-MID radio images of a pair of merging galaxy clusters, measured between 950 and 1750 MHz with a resolution of 10 arcsec and a thermal noise of 0.1$\mu$Jy/beam. The results of our RM-synthesis analysis are compared to the simulations' input parameters. We study two cases: one with radio haloes at the cluster centres, and another without. We found that the information obtained with the RM-synthesis is in general agreement with the input information. Some discrepancies are however present. We characterise them in this work, with the final goal of determining the potential impact of SKA1-MID on the study of cluster magnetic fields.