Cosmic evolution of the Faraday rotation measure in the intracluster medium of galaxy clusters

TL;DR

This study models the evolution of Faraday rotation measures in galaxy clusters up to redshift 1.5, revealing how magnetic fields grow and behave over cosmic time, and compares results with observations to understand magnetic field development.

Contribution

It introduces a weakly collisional dynamo model to simulate RM evolution in galaxy clusters across a broad redshift range, extending previous observational limits and providing a tool for future radio observations.

Findings

RM standard deviation increases with cluster mass.

RM values are nearly constant from z=0 to z=1.5 for fixed mass.

Radial RM profiles are consistent across redshifts and match some observed clusters.

Abstract

Radio observations have revealed magnetic fields in the intracluster medium (ICM) of galaxy clusters nearly in equipartition with turbulence. This suggests magnetic field amplification by dynamo processes. However, observations are limited to redshifts z <~ 0.7, and the weakly collisional nature of the ICM complicates studying magnetic field evolution at higher redshifts through theoretical models and simulations. Using a model of the weakly collisional dynamo, we modelled the evolution of the Faraday rotation measure (RM) in clusters of different masses, up to z <~ 1.5, and investigated its properties. We compared our results with radio observations of various galaxy clusters. We used merger trees generated by the modified GALFORM algorithm to track the evolution of plasma quantities during galaxy cluster formation. Assuming the magnetic field remains in equipartition with the turbulent velocity field, we generated RM maps to study their properties. We find that both the standard deviation of RM, sigma_RM, and the absolute average |mu_RM| increase with cluster mass. Due to redshift dilution, RM values for a fixed cluster mass remain nearly constant between z=0 and z=1.5. For r/r200 >~ 0.4, sigma_RM does not vary significantly with L/r200, with L being the size of the observed RM patch. Below this limit, sigma_RM increases as L decreases. We find that radial RM profiles have a consistent shape, proportional to 10^{-1.2(r/r200)}, and are nearly independent of redshift. Our z~0 profiles for M_clust = 10^15 Msol match RM observations in the Coma cluster but show discrepancies with Perseus, possibly due to high gas mixing. Models for clusters with M_clust = 10^13 and M_clust = 10^15 Msol at z=0 and z = 0.174 align well with Fornax and A2345 data for r/r200 <~ 0.4. Our model can be useful for generating mock polarization observations for radio telescopes.