The connection between the thermal and non-thermal ICM properties in galaxy cluster Abell 2744

Bruning, Noa (2025) The connection between the thermal and non-thermal ICM properties in galaxy cluster Abell 2744. Bachelor's Thesis, Astronomy.

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Abstract

I analyze the galaxy cluster Abell 2744, focusing on the relationship between thermal and non-thermal properties as traced by the thermal Sunyaev–Zeldovich (SZ) effect measurements and non-thermal ra- dio emission caused by synchrotron emission. I used SZ data from the At- acama Cosmology Telescope and Planck satellite, and radio observations from the MeerKAT telescope, to construct radial brightness profiles after the application of masking and noise reduction procedures. The SZ profile exhibits a centrally peaked Compton-ydistribution that decreases rapidly with radius. The corresponding radio profile, derived from masked diffuse radio emission, shows a similar trend but includes minor deviations likely due to asymmetries in the radio halo. Interpolation of the radio data to match the SZ radial bins resulted in a reduced number of data points, due to differences in instrument resolution. A power-law fit to the radio versus SZ profile yields a slope of b= 1.98 ±0.16, giving a scaling of the radio brightness to the SZ brightnes as Iradio(r) ∝ISZ (r)0.49. This result closely agrees with theoretical expectations where the magnetic energy scales with the thermal energy of the intracluster medium (ICM), indicat- ing that amplification of magnetic fields is influenced by processes such as turbulence or merger-driven flows. The findings highlight the utility of joint SZ and radio analyses in exploring the thermal and non-thermal dynamics of galaxy clusters.

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelor's Thesis)
Supervisor name:	Morganti, R.
Degree programme:	Astronomy
Thesis type:	Bachelor's Thesis
Language:	English
Date Deposited:	22 Jul 2025 08:42
Last Modified:	22 Jul 2025 08:42
URI:	https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/36447

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