Ultra-Steep Spectrum Radio `Jellyfish' Uncovered in Abell 2877

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of an ultra-steep spectrum radio source in galaxy cluster Abell 2877, resembling a jellyfish, likely caused by reacceleration of aged electron populations through a weak cluster-scale mechanism.

Contribution

It presents the first example of a polyphoenix, suggesting a new large-scale reacceleration process in galaxy clusters, supported by observational data and simulations.

Findings

The source has the steepest known spectral index for a cluster synchrotron source.

The source's morphology resembles a jellyfish with tentacles and peaks.

Simulations show such emission can be a transient phase from interacting AGN remnants.

Abstract

We report on the discovery of a mysterious ultra-steep spectrum (USS) synchrotron source in the galaxy cluster Abell 2877. We have observed the source with the Murchison Widefield Array at five frequencies across 72-231 MHz and have found the source to exhibit strong spectral curvature over this range as well the steepest known spectra of a synchrotron cluster source, with a spectral index across the central three frequency bands of $\alpha = -5.97^{+0.40}_{-0.48}$. Higher frequency radio observations, including a deep observation with the Australia Telescope Compact Array, fail to detect any of the extended diffuse emission. The source is approximately 370 kpc wide and bears an uncanny resemblance to a jellyfish with two peaks of emission and long tentacles descending south towards the cluster centre. Whilst the `USS Jellyfish' defies easy classification, we here propose that the phenomenon is caused by the reacceleration and compression of multiple aged electron populations from historic active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity, so-called `radio phoenix', by an as yet undetected weak cluster-scale mechanism. The USS Jellyfish adds to a growing number of radio phoenix in cool-core clusters with unknown reacceleration mechanisms; as the first example of a polyphoenix, however, this implies the mechanism is on the scale of the cluster itself. Indeed, we show that in simulations, emission akin to the USS Jellyfish can be produced as a short-lived, transient phase in the evolution of multiple interacting AGN remnants when subject to weak external shocks.