Wonki Lee (Yonsei U.): "Exploring Astrophysics with Cosmic Giants: The Role of Galaxy Cluster Mergers and Radio Relics"

Cluster mergers serve as powerful laboratories for cosmology and astrophysics. Radio relics, which are diffuse radio emissions found in the outskirts of merging clusters, are believed to originate from plasma acceleration caused by cluster merger shocks. In this talk, we will demonstrate that cluster mergers exhibiting radio relics provide an ideal laboratory for studying plasma acceleration and the nature of dark matter. By utilizing high-quality multi-wavelength observations and numerical simulations, including idealized simulations and the latest cosmological zoom-in simulation TNG-Cluster, we have reproduced the diverse morphology of radio relics, resembling those observed in the latest radio surveys. We found that radio relics play a key role in reconstructing the cluster merger history. We will show how the strength of radio relics in constraining the merger history can be used to verify the self-interacting nature of dark matter. Please join the Caltech/IPAC Seminar Mailing list at https://lists.ipac.caltech.edu/mailman/listinfo/seminars to obtain the latest information.