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G. Brunetti

Publications and source records attributed to G. Brunetti.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

A giant radio bridge connecting two clusters in Abell 1758

Collisions between galaxy clusters dissipate enormous amounts of energy in the intra-cluster medium (ICM) through turbulence and shocks. In the process, Mpc-scale diffuse synchrotron emission in form of radio halos and relics can form. However, little is known about the very early phase of the collision. We used deep radio observations from 53 MHz to 1.5 GHz to study the pre-merging galaxy clusters A1758N and A1758S that are $\sim2$ Mpc apart. We confirm the presence of a giant bridge of radio emission connecting the two systems that was reported only tentatively in our earlier work. This is the second large-scale radio bridge observed to date in a cluster pair. The bridge is clearly visible in the LOFAR image at 144 MHz and tentatively detected at 53 MHz. Its mean radio emissivity is more than one order of magnitude lower than that of the radio halos in A1758N and A1758S. Interestingly, the radio and X-ray emissions of the bridge are correlated. Our results indicate that non-thermal phenomena in the ICM can be generated also in the region of compressed gas in-between infalling systems.

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Reaching thermal noise at ultra-low radio frequencies: the Toothbrush radio relic downstream of the shock front

Ultra-low frequency observations (<100 MHz) are particularly challenging because they are usually performed in a low signal-to-noise ratio regime due to the high sky temperature and because of ionospheric disturbances whose effects are inversely proportional to the observing frequency. Nonetheless, these observations are crucial to study the emission from low-energy populations of cosmic rays. We aim to obtain the first thermal-noise limited (~ 1.5 mJy/beam) deep continuum radio map using the LOFAR Low Band Antenna (LBA) system. Our demonstration observation targeted the galaxy cluster RX J0603.3+4214 (the "Toothbrush" cluster). We used the resulting ultra-low frequency (58 MHz) image to study cosmic-ray acceleration and evolution in the post shock region, as well as their relation with the presence of a radio halo. We describe the data reduction we have used to calibrate LOFAR LBA observations. The resulting image is combined with observations at higher frequencies (LOFAR 150 MHz and VLA 1500 MHz) to extract spectral information. We obtained the first thermal-noise limited image from an observation carried out with the LOFAR LBA system using all Dutch stations at a central frequency of 58 MHz. With 8 hours of data, we reached an rms noise of 1.3 mJy/beam at a resolution of 18" x 11". The procedure we have developed is an important step forward towards routine high-fidelity imaging with the LOFAR LBA. The analysis of the radio spectra shows that the radio relic extends to distances of 800 kpc downstream from the shock front, larger than what allowed by electron cooling time. Furthermore, the shock wave started accelerating electrons already at a projected distance of <300 kpc from the crossing point of the two clusters. These results can be explained if electrons are reaccelerated downstream by background turbulence possibly combined with projection effects.

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LOFAR Observations of X-ray Cavity Systems

We present LOFAR observations at 120-168 MHz of 42 systems with possible X-ray cavities in their hot atmosphere, of which 17 are groups or ellipticals, 19 are nearby clusters (z<0.3), and six are higher-redshift clusters (z>0.3). The X-ray cavities, formed by the radio lobes of the central active galactic nucleus (AGN), are evidence of radio-mode AGN feedback. In the groups and ellipticals sample, more than half of the systems have X-ray cavities for which no associated lobe emission was detected. Conversely, we report the discovery of large radio lobes in NGC 6338, extending far beyond the emission reported previously in the literature. In the case of the nearby clusters, our observations show that there is little low-frequency radio emission that extends beyond the cavities (e.g., MS 0735.6+7421 and A2052). For the first time, we report secure cavity-radio associations in 2A 0335+096, ZwCl 2701, and ZwCl 8276 that strengthens their interpretation as AGN-created cavities. However, in some known cavity systems (e.g., A1795 and ZwCl 3146) we report the lack of detectable low-frequency radio emission associated with the cavities. Our sample of higher-redshift systems is small, and unfortunately the present LOFAR observations are not able to resolve the lobes in many of them. Nevertheless, our sample represents one of the best available for investigating the connection between radio and jet power in radio-mode AGN feedback.

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The ENUBET positron tagger prototype: construction and testbeam performance

A prototype for the instrumented decay tunnel of ENUBET was tested in 2018 at the CERN East Area facility with charged particles up to 5 GeV. This detector is a longitudinal sampling calorimeter with lateral scintillation light readout. The calorimeter was equipped by an additional "$t_0$-layer" for timing and photon discrimination. The performance of this detector in terms of electron energy resolution, linearity, response to muons and hadron showers are presented in this paper and compared with simulation. The $t_0$-layer was studied both in standalone mode using pion charge exchange and in combined mode with the calorimeter to assess the light yield and the 1 mip/2 mip separation capability. We demonstrate that this system fulfills the requirements for neutrino physics applications and discuss performance and additional improvements.

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The beautiful mess in Abell 2255

We present LOFAR observations of one of the most spectacular objects in the radio sky: Abell 2255. This is a nearby ($z = 0.0806$) merging galaxy cluster hosting one of the first radio halos ever detected in the intra-cluster medium (ICM). The deep LOFAR images at 144 MHz of the central $\sim10$ Mpc$^2$ region show a plethora of emission on different scales, from tens of kpc to above Mpc sizes. In this work, we focus on the innermost region of the cluster. Among the numerous interesting features observed, we discover remarkable bright and filamentary structures embedded in the radio halo. We incorporate archival WSRT 1.2 GHz data to study the spectral properties of the diffuse synchrotron emission and find a very complex spectral index distribution in the halo spanning a wide range of values. We combine the radio data with Chandra observations to investigate the connection between the thermal and non-thermal components by quantitatively comparing the radio and X-ray surface brightness and the spectral index of the radio emission with the thermodynamical quantities of the ICM. Despite the multitude of structures observed in the radio halo, we find that the X-ray and radio emission are overall well correlated. The fact that the steepest spectrum emission is located in the cluster center and traces regions with high entropy possibly suggests the presence of seed particles injected by radio galaxies that are spread in the ICM by turbulence generating the extended radio halo.

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Particle acceleration in low-power hotspots: modelling the broad-band spectral energy distribution

The acceleration and radiative processes active in low-power radio hotspots are investigated by means of new deep near-infrared (NIR) and optical VLT observations, complemented with archival, high-sensitivity VLT, radio VLA and X-ray Chandra data. For the three studied radio galaxies (3C 105, 3C 195 and 3C 227), we confirm the detection of NIR/optical counterparts of the observed radio hotspots. We resolve multiple components in 3C 227 West and in 3C 105 South and characterize the diffuse NIR/optical emission of the latter. We show that the linear size of this component ($\gtrsim$4 kpc) makes 3C 105 South a compelling case for particles' re-acceleration in the post-shock region. Modeling of the radio-to-X-ray spectral energy distribution (SED) of 3C 195 South and 3C 227 W1 gives clues on the origin of the detected X-ray emission. In the context of inverse Compton models, the peculiarly steep synchrotron curve of 3C 195 South sets constraints on the shape of the radiating particles' spectrum that are testable with better knowledge of the SED shape at low ($\lesssim$GHz) radio frequencies and in X-rays. The X-ray emission of 3C 227 W1 can be explained with an additional synchrotron component originating in compact ($<$100 pc) regions, such those revealed by radio observations at 22 GHz, provided that efficient particle acceleration ($γ\gtrsim$10$^7$) is ongoing. The emerging picture is that of systems in which different acceleration and radiative processes coexist.

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Jansky VLA observations of synchrotron emitting optical hotspots of 3C 227 and 3C 445 radio galaxies

We report results on deep Jansky Very Large Array A-configuration observations at 22 GHz of the hotspots of the radio galaxies 3C227 and 3C445. Synchrotron emission in the optical on scales up to a few kpc was reported for the four hotspots. Our VLA observations point out the presence of unresolved regions with upper limit to their linear size of about 100 pc. This is the first time that such compact components in hotspots have been detected in a mini-sample, indicating that they are not a peculiar characteristic of a few individual hotspots. The polarization may reach values up to 70 per cent in compact (about 0.1 kpc scale) regions within the hotspot, indicating a highly ordered magnetic field with size up to a hundred parsecs. On larger scales, the average polarization of the hotspot component is about 30-45 per cent, suggesting the presence of a significant random field component, rather than an ordered magnetic field. This is further supported by the displacement between the peaks in polarized intensity and in total intensity images that is observed in all the four hotspots. The electric vector position angle is not constant, but changes arbitrarily in the central part of the hotspot regions, whereas it is usually perpendicular to the total intensity contours of the outermost edge of the hotspot structure, likely marking the large-scale shock front. The misalignment between X-ray and radio-to-optical emission suggests that the former is tracing the current particle acceleration, whereas the latter marks older shock fronts.

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Low-frequency observations of the Giant Radio Galaxy NGC 6251

We present LOFAR observations at 150 MHz of the borderline FRI/FRII giant radio galaxy NGC 6251. This paper presents the most sensitive and highest-resolution images of NGC 6251 at these frequencies to date, revealing for the first time a low-surface-brightness extension to the northern lobe, and a possible backflow associated with the southern lobe. The integrated spectra of components of NGC 6251 are consistent with previous measurements at higher frequencies, similar to results from other LOFAR studies of nearby radio galaxies. We find the outer structures of NGC 6251 to be either at equipartition or slightly electron dominated, similar to those of FRII sources rather than FRIs; but this conclusion remains tentative because of uncertainties associated with the geometry and the extrapolation of X-ray measurements to determine the external pressure distribution on the scale of the outer lobes. We place lower limits on the ages of the extension of the northern lobe and the backflow of the southern lobe of $t \gtrsim 250$ Myr and $t \gtrsim 210$ Myr respectively. We present the first detection of polarisation at 150 MHz in NGC 6251. Taking advantage of the high Faraday resolution of LOFAR, we place an upper limit on the magnetic field in the group of $B < 0.2 (Λ_B / 10 {\rm kpc})^{-0.5} μ$G for a coherence scale of $Λ_B < 60 {\rm kpc}$ and $B < 13 μ$G for $Λ_B = 240$ kpc.

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Decay tunnel instrumentation for the ENUBET neutrino beam

The uncertainty in the initial neutrino flux is the main limitation for a precise determination of the absolute neutrino cross section. The ERC funded ENUBET project (2016-2021) is studying a facility based on a narrow band beam to produce an intense source of electron neutrinos with a ten-fold improvement in accuracy. Since March 2019 ENUBET is also a Neutrino Platform experiment at CERN: NP06/ENUBET. A key element of the project is the instrumentation of the decay tunnel to monitor large angle positrons produced together with $ν_e$ in the three body decays of kaons ($K_{e3}$) and to discriminate them from neutral and charged pions. The need for an efficient and high purity e/$π$ separation over a length of several meters, and the requirements for fast response and radiation hardness imposed by the harsh beam environment, suggested the implementation of a longitudinally segmented Fe/scintillator calorimeter with a readout based on WLS fibers and SiPM detectors. An extensive experimental program through several test beam campaigns at the CERN-PS T9 beam line has been pursued on calorimeter prototypes, both with a shashlik and a lateral readout configuration. The latter, in which fibers collect the light from the side of the scintillator tiles, allows to place the light sensors away from the core of the calorimeter, thus reducing possible irradiation damages with respect to the shashlik design. This contribution will present the achievements of the prototyping activities carried out, together with irradiation tests made on the Silicon Photo-Multipliers. The results achieved so far pin down the technology of choice for the construction of the 3 m long demonstrator that will take data in 2021.

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Turbulent pressure support and hydrostatic mass-bias in the intracluster medium

The degree of turbulent pressure support by residual gas motions in galaxy clusters is not well known. Mass modelling of combined X-ray and Sunyaev Zel'dovich observations provides an estimate of turbulent pressure support in the outer regions of several galaxy clusters. Here, we test two different filtering techniques to disentangle bulk from turbulent motions in non-radiative high-resolution cosmological simulations of galaxy clusters using the cosmological hydro code ENZO. We find that the radial behavior of the ratio of non-thermal pressure to total gas pressure as a function of cluster-centric distance can be described by a simple polynomial function. The typical non-thermal pressure support in the centre of clusters is $\sim$5%, increasing to $\sim$15% in the outskirts, in line with the pressure excess found in recent X-ray observations. While the complex dynamics of the ICM makes it impossible to reconstruct a simple correlation between turbulent motions and hydrostatic bias, we find that a relation between them can be established using the median properties of a sample of objects. Moreover, we estimate the contribution of radial accelerations to the non-thermal pressure support and conclude that it decreases moving outwards from 40% (in the core) to 15% (in the cluster's outskirts). Adding this contribution to one provided by turbulence, we show that it might account for the entire observed hydrostatic bias in the innermost regions of the clusters, and for less than 80% of it at $r > 0.8 r_{200, m}$.

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Shock acceleration efficiency in radio relics

Radio relics in galaxy clusters are giant diffuse synchrotron sources powered in cluster outskirts by merger shocks. Although the relic-shock connection has been consolidated in recent years by a number of observations, the details of the mechanisms leading to the formation of relativistic particles in this environment are still not well understood. The diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) theory is a commonly adopted scenario to explain the origin of cosmic rays at astrophysical shocks, including those in radio relics in galaxy clusters. However, in a few specific cases it has been shown that the energy dissipated by cluster shocks is not enough to reproduce the luminosity of the relics via DSA of thermal particles. Studies based on samples of radio relics are required to further address this limitation of the mechanism. In this paper, we focus on ten well-studied radio relics with underlying shocks observed in the X-rays and calculate the electron acceleration efficiency of these shocks that is necessary to reproduce the observed radio luminosity of the relics. We find that in general the standard DSA cannot explain the origin of the relics if electrons are accelerated from the thermal pool with an efficiency significantly smaller than 10%. Our results show that other mechanisms, such as shock re-acceleration of supra-thermal seed electrons or a modification of standard DSA, are required to explain the formation of radio relics.

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Second order Fermi reacceleration mechanisms and large scale synchrotron radio emission in intra-cluster bridges

Radio observations at low frequencies with the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) start discovering gigantic radio bridges connecting pairs of massive galaxy clusters. These observations probe unexplored mechanisms of in situ particle acceleration that operate on volumes of several Mpc$^3$. Numerical simulations suggest that such bridges are dynamically complex and that weak shocks and super-Alfvénic turbulence can be driven across the entire volume of these regions. In this Letter we explore, for the first time, the role of second order Fermi mechanisms for the reacceleration of relativistic electrons interacting with turbulence in these peculiar regions. We assume the turbulent energy flux measured in simulations and adopt a scenario in which relativistic particles scatter with magnetic field lines diffusing in super-Alfvénic turbulence and magnetic fields are amplified by the same turbulence. We show that steep spectrum and volume filling synchrotron emission can be generated in the entire intra-cluster bridge region thus providing a natural explanation for radio bridges. Consequently, radio observations have the potential to probe the dissipation of energy on scales larger than galaxy clusters and second order Fermi mechanisms operating in physical regimes that are still poorly explored. This has a potential impact on several branches of astrophysics and cosmology.

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Polysiloxane-based scintillators for shashlik calorimeters

We present the first application of polysiloxane-based scintillators as active medium in a shashlik sampling calorimeter. These results were obtained from a testbeam campaign of a $\sim$6$\times$6$\times$45 cm$^3$ (13 $X_0$ depth) prototype. A Wavelength Shifting fiber array of 36 elements runs perpendicularly to the stack of iron (15 mm) and polysiloxane scintillator (15 mm) tiles with a density of about one over cm$^2$. Unlike shashlik calorimeters based on plastic organic scintillators, here fibers are optically matched with the scintillator without any intermediate air gap. The prototype features a compact light readout based on Silicon Photo-Multipliers embedded in the bulk of the detector. The detector was tested with electrons, pions and muons with energies ranging from 1 to 7 GeV at the CERN-PS. This solution offers a highly radiation hard detector to instrument the decay region of a neutrino beam, providing an event-by-event measurement of high-angle decay products associated with neutrino production (ENUBET, Enhanced NeUtrino BEams from kaon Tagging, ERC project). The results in terms of light yield, uniformity and energy resolution, are compared to a similar calorimeter built with ordinary plastic scintillators.

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Revived Fossil Plasma Sources in Galaxy Clusters

It is well established that particle acceleration by shocks and turbulence in the intra-cluster medium can produce cluster-scale synchrotron emitting sources. However, the detailed physics of these particle acceleration processes is still not well understood. One of the main open questions is the role of fossil relativistic electrons that have been deposited in the intra-cluster medium by radio galaxies. These synchrotron-emitting electrons are very difficult to study, as their radiative life time is only tens of Myrs at GHz frequencies, and are therefore a relatively unexplored population. Despite the typical steep radio spectrum due to synchrotron losses, these fossil electrons are barely visible even at radio frequencies well below a GHz. However, when a pocket of fossil radio plasma is compressed, it boosts the visibility at sub-GHz frequencies, creating so-called radio phoenices. This compression can be the result of bulk motion and shocks in the ICM due to merger activity. In this paper, we demonstrate the discovery potential of low frequency radio sky surveys to find and study revived fossil plasma sources in galaxy clusters. We used the 150~MHz TGSS and 1.4 GHz NVSS sky surveys to identify candidate radio phoenices. A subset of three candidates were studied in detail using deep multi-band radio observations (LOFAR and GMRT), X-ray (\textit{Chandra} or \textit{XMM-Newton}) and archival optical observations. Two of the three sources are new discoveries. Using these observations, we identified common observational properties (radio morphology, ultra-steep spectrum, X-ray luminosity, dynamical state) that will enable us to identify this class of sources more easily, and help to understand the physical origin of these sources.

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Growth and disruption in the Lyra complex

Nearby clusters of galaxies, z<0.1, are cosmic structures still under formation. Understanding the thermodynamic properties of merging clusters can provide crucial information on how they grow in the local universe. A detailed study of the intra-cluster medium (ICM) properties of un-relaxed systems is essential to understand the fate of in-falling structures and, more generally, the virialization process. We analyzed a mosaic of XMM-Newton observations (240 ks) of the Lyra system (z=0.067) that shows a complex dynamical state. We find the main cluster RXC J1825.3+3026 to be in a late merger phase, whereas its companion CIZA J1824.1+3029 is a relaxed cool-core cluster. We estimate a mass ratio of ~1:2 for the pair. No diffuse X-ray emission is found in the region between them, indicating that these clusters are in a pre-merger phase. We found evidence of a galaxy group infalling on RXC J1825.3+3026 in an advanced state of disruption. The Southern Galaxy, one of the brightest galaxies in the Lyra complex, was very likely at the center of the infalling group. This galaxy has a gaseous corona indicating that it was able to retain some of its gas after the ram-pressure stripping of the intra-group medium. In this scenario the diffuse emission excess observed southwest of RXC J1825.3+3026 could be due to gas once belonging to the group and/or to cluster ICM dislocated by the passage of the group. Finally, we identified three high-velocity galaxies aligned between RXC J1825.3+3026 and the SG, two of these showing evidence of gas stripped from them during infall. We estimate them to be currently falling onto the main cluster at an infall velocity of ~ 3000 km/s. Our study of the Lyra complex provides important clues about the processes presiding over the virialization of massive clusters in the local Universe.

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Particle acceleration in a nearby galaxy cluster pair: the role of cluster dynamics

Diffuse radio emission associated with the intra-cluster medium (ICM) is observed in a number of merging galaxy clusters. It is currently believed that in mergers a fraction of the kinetic energy is channeled into non-thermal components, such as turbulence, cosmic rays and magnetic fields, that may lead to the formation of giant synchrotron sources in the ICM. Studying merging galaxy clusters in different evolutionary phases is fundamental to understanding the origin of radio emission in the ICM. We observed the nearby galaxy cluster pair RXC J1825.3+3026 ($z\sim0.065$) and CIZA J1824.1+3029 ($z\sim0.071$) at 120-168 MHz with the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) and made use of a deep (240 ks) XMM-Newton dataset to study the non-thermal and thermal properties of the system. RXC J1825.3+3026 is in a complex dynamical state, with a primary on-going merger in the E-W direction and a secondary later stage merger with a group of galaxies in the SW, while CIZA J1824.1+3029 is dynamically relaxed. These two clusters are in a pre-merger phase. We report the discovery of a Mpc-scale radio halo with a low surface brightness extension in RXC J1825.3+3026 that follows the X-ray emission from the cluster center to the remnant of a galaxy group in the SW. This is among the least massive systems and the faintest giant radio halo known to date. Contrary to this, no diffuse radio emission is observed in CIZA J1824.1+3029 nor in the region between the pre-merger cluster pair. The power spectra of the X-ray surface brightness fluctuations of RXC J1825.3+3026 and CIZA J1824.1+3029 are in agreement with the findings for clusters exhibiting a radio halo and the ones where no radio emission has been detected, respectively. We provide quantitative support to the idea that cluster mergers play a crucial role in the generation of non-thermal components in the ICM.

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LOFAR discovery of a radio halo in the high-redshift galaxy cluster PSZ2 G099.86+58.45

In this Letter, we report the discovery of a radio halo in the high-redshift galaxy cluster PSZ2 G099.86+58.45 ($z=0.616$) with the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) at 120-168 MHz. This is one of the most distant radio halos discovered so far. The diffuse emission extends over $\sim$ 1 Mpc and has a morphology similar to that of the X-ray emission as revealed by XMM-Newton data. The halo is very faint at higher frequencies and is barely detected by follow-up 1-2 GHz Karl G.~Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) observations, which enable us to constrain the radio spectral index to be $α\leq 1.5-1.6$, i.e.; with properties between canonical and ultra-steep spectrum radio halos. Radio halos are currently explained as synchrotron radiation from relativistic electrons that are re-accelerated in the intra-cluster medium (ICM) by turbulence driven by energetic mergers. We show that in such a framework radio halos are expected to be relatively common at $\sim150$ MHz ($\sim30-60\%$) in clusters with mass and redshift similar to PSZ2 G099.86+58.45; however, at least 2/3 of these radio halos should have steep spectrum and thus be very faint above $\sim 1$ GHz frequencies. Furthermore, since the luminosity of radio halos at high redshift depends strongly on the magnetic field strength in the hosting clusters, future LOFAR observations will also provide vital information on the origin and amplification of magnetic fields in galaxy clusters.

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A joint XMM-NuSTAR observation of the galaxy cluster Abell 523: constraints on Inverse Compton emission

We present the results of a joint XMM-Newton and NuSTAR observation (200 ks) of the galaxy cluster Abell 523 at $z=0.104$. The peculiar morphology of the cluster radio halo and its outlier position in the radio power P(1.4 GHz) - X-ray luminosity plane make it an ideal candidate for the study of radio-X-ray correlations and for the search of inverse Compton (IC) emission. We constructed thermodynamic maps derived from the XMM observations to describe in detail the physical and dynamical state of the ICM. We performed a point-to-point comparison in terms of surface brightness between the X-ray and radio emissions, to quantify their morphological discrepancies. Making use of NuSTAR's hard X-ray focusing capability, we looked for IC emission both globally and locally, after modeling the purely thermal component with a multi-temperature description. The thermodynamic maps suggest the presence of a secondary merging process that could be responsible for the peculiar radio halo morphology. This hypothesis is supported by the comparison between the X-ray and radio surface brightnesses, which shows a broad intrinsic scatter and a series of outliers. The global NuSTAR spectrum can be explained by purely thermal gas emission, and there is no convincing evidence that an IC component is needed. The $3σ$ upper limit on the IC flux in the 20-80 keV band is in the range $\left[2.2 - 4.0\right] \times 10^{-13} \, \mathrm{erg} \, \mathrm{s}^{-1} \, \mathrm{cm}^{-2}$, implying a lower limit on the magnetic field strength in the range $B > [0.23 - 0.31] \, μG$. Locally, we looked for IC emission in the central region of the cluster radio halo finding a $3σ$ upper limit on the 20-80 keV non-thermal flux of $3.17 \times 10^{-14} \, \mathrm{erg} \, \mathrm{s}^{-1} \, \mathrm{cm}^{-2}$, corresponding to a lower limit on the magnetic field strength of $B \gtrsim 0.81 \, μG$.

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