Discovery of a shock front in the merging cluster of galaxies A2163

TL;DR

This paper reports the detection of a shock front in galaxy cluster A2163 through X-ray and radio observations, revealing a Mach number of about 2.2 and confirming the presence of a radio relic, enhancing understanding of cluster merger dynamics.

Contribution

First detection of a shock front in A2163 via temperature discontinuity and radio edge, confirming a relic source and providing detailed shock properties.

Findings

Shock front with Mach number ~2.2 detected in X-ray data.

Extended radio relic confirmed in the cluster.

Temperature and luminosity jumps consistent with shock presence.

Abstract

ACO2163 is one of the hottest (mean $kT=12-15.5$ keV) and extremely X-ray overluminous merging galaxy clusters which is located at $z=0.203$. The cluster hosts one of the largest giant radio halos which are observed in most of the merging clusters, and a candidate radio relic. Recently, three merger shock fronts were detected in this cluster, explaining its extreme temperature and complex structure. Furthermore, previous XMM-Newton and Chandra observations hinted at the presence of a shock front that is associated with the gas `bullet' crossing the main cluster in the west-ward direction, and which heated the intra-cluster medium, leading to adiabatic compression of the gas behind the 'bullet'. The goal of this paper is to report on the detection of this shock front as revealed by the temperature discontinuity in the X-ray XMM-Newton image, and the edge in the Very Large Array (VLA) radio image. We also report on the detection of a relic source in the north-eastern region of the radio halo in the KAT-7 data, confirming the presence of an extended relic in this cluster. The brightness edge in the X-rays corresponds to a shock front with a Mach number $M= 2.2\pm0.3$, at a distance of 0.2 Mpc from the cluster centre. An estimate from the luminosity jump gives $M=1.9\pm0.4$. We consider a simple explanation for the electrons at the shock front, and for the observed discrepancy between the average spectral index of the radio halo emission and that predicted by the $M=2.2$ shock which precedes the 'bullet'.