Hamburg 2016 – scientific programme

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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 45: Eingeladene Vorträge II

T 45.5: Semi-Invited Talk

Tuesday, March 1, 2016, 15:45–16:15, VMP8 HS

Magnetic fieds and cosmic rays in galaxy clusters — •Annalisa Bonafede — Hamburger Sternwarte, Hamburg

The extreme physical conditions in the intra-cluster medium of galaxy clusters are beyond anything achievable in any laboratory on Earth, and offer us a unique tool to study magnetic fields and cosmic rays on the largest scales in the Universe. A big challenge of modern astrophysics is understanding the origin of radio emission spread over the volume of some galaxy cluster. This emission is a mystery because it requires relativistic electrons moving around magnetic field lines, but both the origin of the magnetic fields and of the electrons are unknown. We are entering into a golden age to address these fundamental problems, thanks to the advent of a new generation of radio telescopes, such as LOFAR, the JVLA, and ASKAP. At the same time, the new eROSITA X-ray satellite is going to provide us with a wealth of new data on the most distant and less massive galaxy clusters and groups. In this talk, I will review our current knowledge about magnetic fields and cosmic ray particle sin galaxy clusters, and I will illustrate the potential of the new generation of radio instruments to answer the many open questions about the origin and evolution of magnetic fields and cosmic rays.