Using the Very Large Array (VLA), an international team of astronomers have observed a nearby galaxy merger known as CIZA J0107.7+5408. Results of the observational campaign, presented December 20 on the preprint server arXiv, could help us better understand the merging processes that take place between galaxy clusters.
Galaxy clusters contain up to thousands of galaxies bound together by gravity. They generally form as a result of mergers and grow by accreting sub-clusters. These processes provide an excellent opportunity to study matter in conditions that cannot be explored in laboratories on Earth. In particular, merging galaxy clusters could help us better understand the physics of shock and cold fronts seen in the diffuse intra-cluster medium, the cosmic ray acceleration in clusters, and the self-interaction properties of dark matter.
At a redshift of approximately 0.1, CIZA J0107.7+5408, or CIZA0107 for short, is a nearby, post-core passage, dissociative binary cluster merger. It is a large, roughly equal mass disturbed system consisting of two subclusters, hosting two optical density peaks, with associated but offset X-ray emission peaks.
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