SIMULATING NONTHERMAL RADIATION FROM CLUSTER RADIO GALAXIES

Measurement of the radiation from thermal and nonthermal radio sources

The widespread use of the internet has enabled complex instrumentation to be available remotely and made it possible for students to use facilities to which they might otherwise not have access. Internet access to radio astronomical observatories, including the 37 m radio telescope at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Haystack Observatory, has opened up new possibilities for undergradua...

3D MHD Simulations of Radio Galaxies Including Nonthermal Electron Transport

MHD Simulations of Radio Galaxies Including Nonthermal Electron Transport

We report on an effort to study the connections between dynamics in simulated radio galaxy plasma flows and the properties of nonthermal electron populations carried in those flows. To do this we have introduced a new numerical scheme for electron transport that allows a much more detailed look at this problem than has been possible before. Especially when the dynamics is fully three dimensiona...

Stochastic Acceleration and Nonthermal Radiation in Clusters of Galaxies.

We calculate the distribution of electrons in clusters of galaxies, which results from thermalization processes in the presence of stochastic acceleration due to plasma waves. We show that the electron distribution can deviate from a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution because of the effect of the stochastic energy gain, provided that waves can be sustained against damping. The bremsstrahlung emissi...

Nonthermal Radiation and Acceleration of Electrons in Clusters of Galaxies

Recent observations of excess radiation at extreme ultraviolet and hard X-ray energies straddling the well known thermal soft X-ray emission have provided new tools and puzzles for investigation of the acceleration of nonthermal particles in the intercluster medium of clusters of galaxies. It is shown that these radiations can be produced by the inverse Compton upscattering of the cosmic microw...