Discovery of Diffuse Radio Emission in a Massive z=1.709 Cool Core Cluster: A Candidate Radio Mini-Halo

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of a candidate radio mini-halo in a distant galaxy cluster at redshift 1.709, providing new insights into magnetic fields, turbulence, and cosmic ray processes in high-redshift clusters.

Contribution

It presents the first detection of a radio mini-halo at such a high redshift, challenging existing models and suggesting efficient magnetic field amplification and active cosmic ray processes in early galaxy clusters.

Findings

Diffuse radio emission coincides with X-ray emission of the cluster

Radio power of the mini-halo is comparable to low-redshift counterparts

Implications for magnetic field amplification and turbulence at high redshift

Abstract

Clusters of galaxies host spectacular diffuse radio sources, extending over scales from 100 kpc to several Mpcs. These sources, with extremely faint surface brightness ($\mu$Jy/arcsec$^2$ level), are not tied to individual galaxies but trace synchrotron emission from large-scale magnetic fields and relativistic particles within the intracluster environment. Here, we report the discovery of a candidate radio mini-halo in SpARCS104922.6+564032.5, the most distant cool-core galaxy cluster identified to date at $z=1.709$, using deep LOFAR 120-168 MHz observations. We show that this emission originates from diffuse cluster-associated processes rather than unresolved AGN or star-forming galaxies. The diffuse radio emission coincides spatially with the X-ray emission of the hot intracluster medium and has a radio power of $P_{\rm 150~MHz}=49.8^{+14.7}_{-11.7} \times10^{24}$ W Hz$^{-1}$, exhibiting striking similarities to low-redshift radio mini-halos. This discovery doubles the redshift of previously known mini-halos, challenging models of inverse Compton losses and indicating the presence of strong magnetic fields, enhanced turbulence in high-redshift clusters, or active hadronic processes that require a cosmic ray-to-thermal energy ratio of 0.07 within 200 kpc, assuming a clumped distribution with spatial correlations among the gas, cosmic rays, and magnetic field that partially compensate for cosmological redshift dimming. It further implies that magnetic fields are efficiently amplified to $\sim$$10~\mu$G levels within a Mpc$^3$ volume during the epoch of cluster formation before $z\sim2$. These findings provide critical insights into high-redshift cluster physics and emphasize the transformative potential of next-generation radio surveys, such as those with the SKA and ngVLA, in exploring the early evolution of galaxy clusters.