The nature of the giant diffuse non-thermal source in the A3411-A3412 complex

Abstract

Very Large Array deep radio images at 1.4 GHz in total intensity and polarization reveal a diffuse non-thermal source in the interacting clusters A3411-A3412. Moreover, a small-size low-power radiohalo at the centre of the merging cluster A3411 is found. We present here new optical and X-ray data and discuss the nature and properties of the diffuse non-thermal source.We suggest that the giant diffuse radio source is related to the presence of a large-scale filamentary structure and to multiple mergers in the A3411-A3412 complex. © 2013 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.