Aims. Giant radio halos are Mpc-scale synchrotron sources detected in a significant fraction of massive and merging galaxy clusters. The statistical properties of radio halos can be used to discriminate among various models for the origin of non-thermal particles in galaxy clusters. Therefore, theoretical predictions are important as new radio telescopes are about to begin to survey the sky at low and high frequencies with unprecedented sensitivity. Methods. We carry out Monte Carlo simulations to model the formation and evolution of radio halos in a cosmological framework and extend previous calculations based on the hypothesis of turbulent-acceleration. We adopt a phenomenological approach by assuming that radio halos are either generated in turbulent merging clusters, or are purely hadronic sources generated in more relaxed clusters, "off-state" halos.Results. The models predict that the luminosity function of radio halos at high radio luminosities is dominated by the contribution of halos generated in turbulent clusters. The generation of these halos becomes less efficient in less massive systems causing a flattening of the luminosity function at lower radio luminosities, as also pointed out in previous studies. However, we find that potentially this can be more than compensated for by the intervening contribution of "off-state" halos that dominate at lower radio luminosities. We derive the expected number of halos to explore the potential of the EMU+WODAN surveys that will be carried out with ASKAP and Aperitif, respectively, in the near future. By restricting to clusters at redshifts ≤0.6, we show that the planned EMU+WODAN surveys at 1.4 GHz have the potential to detect up to about 200 new radio halos, increasing their number by one order of magnitude. A fraction of these sources will be "off-state" halos that should be found at flux level f 1.4 ≤ 10 mJy, presently accessible only to deep pointed observations. We also explore the synergy between surveys at different radio frequencies, the Tier 1 LOFAR survey at 150 MHz and the EMU+WODAN surveys at 1.4 GHz. We predict a larger number of radio halos in the LOFAR survey due to the high LOFAR sensitivity, but also due to the existence of halos with very steep spectrum that glow up preferentially at lower frequencies. These halos are only predicted in the framework of turbulent re-acceleration models and should not have counterparts in the EMU+WODAN surveys, thus the combination of the two surveys will test theoretical models.

We study the structure of the galaxy cluster Abell 523 (A523) at z = 0.104 using new spectroscopic data for 132 galaxies acquired at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, new photometric data from the Isaac Newton Telescope, and X-ray and radio data from the Chandra and Very Large Array archives. We estimate the velocity dispersion of the galaxy population, σ V = 949 +80 −60 km s −1 , and the X-ray temperature of the hot intracluster medium, kT = 5.3 ± 0.3 keV. We infer that A523 is a massive system: M 200 ∼ 7 − 9 ×10 14 M ⊙ . The analysis of the optical data confirms the presence of two subclusters, 0.75 Mpc apart, tracing the SSW-NNE direction and dominated by the two brightest cluster galaxies (BCG1 and BCG2). The X-ray surface brightness is strongly elongated towards the NNE direction, and its peak is clearly offset from both the BCGs. We confirm the presence of a 1.3 Mpc large radio halo, elongated in the ESE-WNW direction and perpendicular to the optical/X-ray elongation. We detect a significant radio/X-ray offset and radio polarization, two features which might be the result of a magnetic field energy spread on large spatial scales. A523 is found consistent with most scaling relations followed by clusters hosting radio haloes, but quite peculiar in the P radio -L X relation: it is underluminous in the X-rays or overluminous in radio. A523 can be described as a binary head-on merger caught after a collision along the SSW-NNE direction. However, minor optical and radio features suggest a more complex cluster structure, with A523 forming at the crossing of two filaments along the SSW-NNE and ESE-WNW directions.

Context. Radio relics are extended synchrotron sources thought to be produced by shocks in the outskirts of merging galaxy clusters. The cluster Abell 2256 hosts one of the most intriguing examples in this class of sources. It has been found that this radio relic has a rather flat integrated spectrum at low frequencies that would imply an injection spectral index for the electrons that is inconsistent with the flattest allowed by the test particle diffusive shock acceleration (DSA). Aims. We aim at testing the origins of the radio relic in Abell 2256. Methods. We performed new high-frequency observations at 2273, 2640, and 4850 MHz. Combining these new observations with images available in the literature, we constrain the radio-integrated spectrum of the radio relic in Abell 2256 over the widest sampled frequency range collected so far for this class of objects (63−10 450 MHz). Moreover, we used X-ray observations of the cluster to check the temperature structure in the regions around the radio relic. Results. We find that the relic keeps an unusually flat behavior up to high frequencies. Although the relic integrated spectrum between 63 and 10 450 MHz is not inconsistent with a single power law with α 10 450 63 = 0.92 ± 0.02, we find hints of a steepening at frequencies >1400 MHz. The two frequency ranges 63−1369 MHz and 1369−10 450 MHz are, indeed, best represented by two different power laws, with α 1369 63 = 0.85 ± 0.01 and α 10 450 1369 = 1.00 ± 0.02. This broken power law would require special conditions to be explained in terms of test-particle DSA, e.g., non-stationarity of the spectrum, which would make the relic in A2256 a rather young system, and/or non-stationarity of the shock. On the other hand, the single power law would make of this relic the one with the flattest integrated spectrum known so far, even flatter than what is allowed in the test-particle approach to DSA. We find a rather low temperature ratio of T 2 /T 1 ∼ 1.7 across the G region of the radio relic and no temperature jump across the H region. However, in both regions projection effects might have affected the measurements, thereby reducing the contrast.

Radio relics are Mpc-scale diffuse synchrotron sources found in galaxy cluster outskirts. They are believed to be associated with large-scale shocks propagating through the intracluster medium, although the connection between radio relics and the cluster merger shocks is not yet proven conclusively. We present a first tentative detection of a pressure jump in the well-known relic of the Coma cluster through Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect imaging. The SZE data are extracted from the first public all-sky data release of Planck and we use highfrequency radio data at 2.3 GHz to constrain the shock-front geometry. The SZE data provide evidence for a pressure discontinuity, consistent with the relic position, without requiring any additional prior on the shock-front location. The derived Mach number M = 2.9 +0.8 −0.6 is consistent with X-ray and radio results. A high-pressure "filament" without any pressure discontinuity is disfavoured by X-ray measurements and a "sub-cluster" model based on the infalling group NGC 4839 can be ruled out considering the published mass estimates for this group. These results signify a first attempt towards directly measuring the pressure discontinuity for a radio relic and the first SZ-detected shock feature observed near the virial radius of a galaxy cluster.

Abstract. The Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) is under construction in the Netherlands and in several surrounding European countries. In this contribution, we describe the layout and design of the telescope, with a particular emphasis on the imaging characteristics of the array when used in its "standard imaging" mode. After briefly reviewing the calibration and imaging software used for LOFAR image processing, we show some recent results from the ongoing imaging commissioning efforts. We conclude by summarizing future prospects for the use of LOFAR in observing the little-explored low frequency Universe.