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%%
%% Copyright (c) 2017-2019 The Authors. All Rights Reserved.
%%
%% Weitian LI, et al.
%% School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
%%
%% 2017-07-18
%%
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\documentclass[twocolumn]{aastex62}
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%% derived PDF copy of the accepted manuscript from the publisher
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%% preprint : one text column, 12 point font, single spaced article.
%% preprint2 : two text columns, 12 point font, single spaced article.
%% modern : a stylish, single text column, 12 point font, article with
%% wider left and right margins. This uses the Daniel
%% Foreman-Mackey and David Hogg design.
%%
%% Note that you can submit to the AAS Journals in any of these styles.
%%
%% There are other optional arguments one can invoke to allow other stylistic
%% actions. The available options are:
%%
%% astrosymb : Loads Astrosymb font and define \astrocommands.
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%% trackchanges : required to see the revision mark up and print its output
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%% the author/collaboration/affiliations. Instead print all
%% affiliation information after each name. Creates a much
%% long author list but may be desirable for short author papers
%%
%% Extra packages
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%
%% Custom units (requires `siunitx' package)
\DeclareSIUnit\arcsec{arcsec}
\DeclareSIUnit\arcmin{arcmin}
\DeclareSIUnit\cMpc{cMpc} % comoving Mpc
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%
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\DeclareSIUnit\Gpc{\giga\parsec}
%% Hyperref-related settings
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%% Custom settings
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%% Journal information
\received{2018 August 14}
\revised{2019 March 26}
\accepted{2019 May 13}
\submitjournal{ApJ}
%% Add a light gray and diagonal water-mark to the first page
%\watermark{DRAFT} % watermark text: DRAFT
%% Control the water-mark size with:
%% \setwatermarkfontsize{dimension}
%% Short title to be used as the running head (<= 44 characters)
%% ............................................
\shorttitle{EoR Foreground Contribution of Radio Halos}
\shortauthors{Li~\textit{et~al.}}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
\begin{document}
\title{\bfseries%
Contribution of Radio Halos to the Foreground for SKA EoR Experiments
}
%% The \author command is the same as before except it now takes an optional
%% argument which is the 16 digit ORCID. The syntax is:
%% \author[xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx]{Author Name}
%%
%% This will hyperlink the author name to the author's ORCID page. Note that
%% during compilation, LaTeX will do some limited checking of the format of
%% the ID to make sure it is valid.
%%
%% Use \affiliation for affiliation information. Please use multiple
%% \affiliation calls for to document more than one affiliation. AASTeX v6.1
%% will automatically index these in the header. When a duplicate is found
%% its index will be the same as its previous entry.
%%
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%% right after the \author command, in order to place the footnotes in
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%% one to exploit all the new benefits and should make book-keeping easier.
%%
%% If done correctly the peer review system will be able to automatically
%% put the author and affiliation information from the manuscript and save
%% the corresponding author the trouble of entering it by hand.
\correspondingauthor{Haiguang Xu}
\email{hgxu@sjtu.edu.cn}
\author[0000-0002-7527-380X]{Weitian Li}
\email{liweitianux@sjtu.edu.cn}
\affiliation{School of Physics and Astronomy,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University,
800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China}
\author{Haiguang Xu}
\affiliation{School of Physics and Astronomy,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University,
800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China}
\affiliation{Tsung-Dao Lee Institute,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University,
800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China}
\affiliation{IFSA Collaborative Innovation Center,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University,
800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China}
\author[0000-0003-1263-9453]{Zhixian Ma}
\affiliation{Department of Electronic Engineering,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University,
800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China}
\author{Dan Hu}
\affiliation{School of Physics and Astronomy,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University,
800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China}
\author{Zhenghao Zhu}
\affiliation{School of Physics and Astronomy,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University,
800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China}
\author{Chenxi Shan}
\affiliation{School of Physics and Astronomy,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University,
800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China}
\author{Jingying Wang}
\affiliation{Department of Physics and Astronomy,
University of the Western Cape,
Cape Town 7535, South Africa}
\author[0000-0001-9765-6521]{Junhua Gu}
\affiliation{National Astronomical Observatories,
Chinese Academy of Sciences,
20A Datun Road, Beijing 100012, China}
\author{Dongchao Zheng}
\affiliation{School of Physics and Astronomy,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University,
800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China}
\author{Xiaoli Lian}
\affiliation{School of Physics and Astronomy,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University,
800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China}
\author{Qian Zheng}
\affiliation{Shanghai Astronomical Observatory,
Chinese Academy of Sciences,
80 Nandan Road, Shanghai 200030, China}
\author{Yu Wang}
\affiliation{School of Mathematics, Physics and Statistics,
Shanghai University of Engineering Science,
333 Longteng Road, Shanghai 201620, China}
\author{Jie Zhu}
\affiliation{Department of Electronic Engineering,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University,
800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China}
\author{Xiang-Ping Wu}
\affiliation{National Astronomical Observatories,
Chinese Academy of Sciences,
20A Datun Road, Beijing 100012, China}
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% The abstract should summarize concisely the content and conclusions
%% of the article. The abstract should be a single paragraph of not more
%% than 250 words.
\begin{abstract}
\noindent
The overwhelming foreground contamination is one of the primary impediments
to probing the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) through measuring the redshifted 21~cm signal.
Among various foreground components, radio halos are less studied and
their impacts on the EoR observations are still poorly understood.
In this work, we employ the Press--Schechter formalism, merger-induced
turbulent reacceleration model, and the latest SKA1-Low layout
configuration to simulate the SKA \enquote{observed} images of radio halos.
We calculate the one-dimensional power spectra from simulated images and
find that radio halos can be about \numlist{e4; e3; e2.5} times more luminous
than the EoR signal on scales of $\SI{0.1}{\per\Mpc} < k < \SI{2}{\per\Mpc}$
in the \numrange{120}{128}, \numrange{154}{162}, and \numrange{192}{200}
\si{\MHz} bands, respectively.
By examining the two-dimensional power spectra inside properly defined
EoR windows, we find that the power leaked by radio halos can still be
significant, as the power ratios of radio halos to the EoR signal on scales
of $\SI{0.5}{\per\Mpc} \lesssim k \lesssim \SI{1}{\per\Mpc}$ can be up to
about \numrange{230}{800}\%, \numrange{18}{95}\%, and \numrange{7}{40}\%
in the three bands when the 68\% uncertainties caused by
the variation of the number density of bright radio halos are considered.
Furthermore, we find that radio halos located inside the far side lobes
of the station beam can also impose strong contamination within the EoR
window.
In conclusion, we argue that radio halos are severe foreground sources
and need serious treatments in future EoR experiments.
\end{abstract}
%% Authors should select subject keywords from the given list. No more
%% than 6 keywords should be given, and they should be listed in
%% alphabetical order.
%%
%% See the online documentation for the full list of available subject
%% keywords and the rules for their use.
%% http://journals.aas.org/authors/keywords2013.html
\keywords{%
dark ages, reionization, first stars ---
early universe ---
galaxies: clusters: intracluster medium ---
methods: data analysis ---
techniques: interferometric
}
%########################################################################
\section{Introduction}
\label{sec:intro}
%########################################################################
The Epoch of Reionization (EoR; $z \sim \numrange{6}{15}$) refers to
a period of our universe preceded by the Cosmic Dawn
($z \sim \numrange{15}{30}$) and the Dark Ages ($z \sim \numrange{30}{200}$)
and is expected to last from about 300 million to about 1 billion years
after the big bang (see \citealt{koopmans2015rev} and references therein).
During the EoR, the reionization of neutral hydrogen (\Hi), which was
caused primarily by the ultraviolet and soft X-ray photons emitted from
the first-generation celestial objects, efficiently surpassed the cooling
of the gas \citep{dayal2018}.
As a result, the majority of baryonic matter was again in a highly ionized
state.
Comparing with the observations of distant quasars and cosmic microwave
background (CMB), which have provided some important but loose constraints
on the reionization process (see \citealt{fan2006rev} for a review),
the 21~cm line emission of \Hi{} that is redshifted to frequencies below
\SI{200}{\MHz} is regarded as the decisive probe to directly explore the EoR
\citep[see][for reviews]{furlanetto2006rev,zaroubi2013rev,furlanetto2016rev}.
In order to probe the EoR, a number of radio interferometers working
at the low-frequency radio bands (\SIrange{\sim 50}{200}{\MHz}) have been
designed to target the redshifted 21~cm signal, among which there are
the Square Kilometre Array (SKA; \citealt{mellema2013rev,koopmans2015rev}),
the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA; \citealt{deboer2017}),
and their pathfinders, such as
the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR; \citealt{vanHaarlem2013}),
the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA; \citealt{bowman2013,tingay2013}),
the Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization
(PAPER; \citealt{parsons2010}),
and the 21 CentiMeter Array (21CMA; \citealt{zheng2016}).
The challenges met in these experiments, however, are immense
due to a variety of complicated instrumental effects,
ionospheric distortions, radio frequency interference, and the
strong celestial foreground contamination that overwhelms the
redshifted 21~cm signal by about four to five orders of magnitude
\citep[see][for a review]{morales2010rev}.
Among various contaminating foreground components, the Galactic diffuse
radiation (including both the synchrotron and free-free emissions)
and extragalactic point sources are the most prominent and contribute
the majority of the foreground contamination \citep[e.g.,][]{%
shaver1999,diMatteo2004,gleser2008,liu2012,murray2017,spinelli2018}.
At about \SI{150}{\MHz}, it is estimated that they may account for
about 71\% and 27\% of the total foreground
contamination, respectively \citep{shaver1999}.
Most of the remaining foreground contamination arises from the emission
from the extragalactic diffuse sources that include the large-scale
filaments embedded in cosmic webs \citep[e.g.,][]{vazza2015},
the intergalactic medium located at cluster outskirts
\citep[e.g.,][]{keshet2004rev},
and the intracluster medium (ICM) of galaxy clusters (radio halos,
relics, and mini-halos; e.g., \citealt{feretti2012rev}).
There is only limited observational evidence, especially in the
low-frequency regime, of these diffuse sources.
Among them, radio halos have gained relatively more observational
constraints and theoretical understanding, which enables us to
effectively evaluate their contamination on the EoR observations.
First discovered in the Coma cluster \citep{large1959}, radio halos
have been observed in about 80 merging galaxy clusters, exhibiting
relatively regular morphologies and about \si{Mpc} spatial extensions.
It should be noted that the angular sizes of radio halos appear to be
several to tens of arcminutes, which coincide with those of the
ionizing bubbles during the EoR.
This, complemented by the potentially large number (several to tens of
thousands in the whole sky) of radio halos to be revealed by the
forthcoming low-frequency radio telescopes \citep[e.g.,][]{cassano2015},
indicates that radio halos might be important contaminating foreground
sources \citep[e.g.,][]{diMatteo2004,gleser2008}.
As of today, however, only very few works have been dedicated to this
topic and are all based on relatively straightforward modeling methods,
such as using the \SI{1.4}{\GHz} radio flux function or radio--X-ray
scaling relations that are barely constrained by the very limited
observations \citep[e.g.,][]{gleser2008,jelic2008}.
In this work, we focus on the radio halos and employ a semi-analytic
approach to derive their low-frequency emission maps with the SKA1-Low's
instrumental effects incorporated.
By making use of the power spectra and the EoR window, the contamination
of radio halos on the EoR observations is quantitatively evaluated for
both foreground removal and avoidance methods, which are the two major
categories of methods that proposed to tackle the foreground
contamination (see \citealt{chapman2016} and references therein).
This paper is prepared as follows.
In \autoref{sec:sky-simu}, we simulate the low-frequency radio sky, where a
semi-analytic simulation of radio halos is developed by employing
the Press--Schechter formalism and turbulent reacceleration model.
In \autoref{sec:obs-simu}, we adopt the latest SKA1-Low layout
configuration to incorporate the practical instrumental effects into
the simulated sky maps.
We briefly introduce the power spectra and the EoR window in
\autoref{sec:ps-eorw}
and then quantitatively evaluate the contamination caused by radio halos
on the EoR measurements in \autoref{sec:results}.
In \autoref{sec:discussions}, we discuss how the EoR detection is
affected by radio halos due to the instrumental frequency artifacts
and the far side lobes of the station beam.
Finally, we summarize our work in \autoref{sec:summary}.
Throughout this work we adopt a flat \lcdm{} cosmology with
$H_0 = \SI{100}{\hubble} = \SI{71}{\km\per\second\per\Mpc}$,
$\Omega_m = 0.27$, $\Omega_{\Lambda} = 1 - \Omega_m = 0.73$,
$\Omega_b = 0.046$, $n_s = 0.96$, and $\sigma_8 = 0.81$.
The quoted uncertainties are at 68\% confidence level unless
otherwise stated.
%########################################################################
\section{Simulation of Radio Sky}
\label{sec:sky-simu}
%########################################################################
Based on our previous works \citep{wang2010,wang2013}, we have developed
the \texttt{FG21sim}\footnote{%
FG21sim: \url{https://github.com/liweitianux/fg21sim}}
software to simulate the low-frequency
radio sky by taking into account the contributions of our Galaxy,
extragalactic point sources, and radio halos in galaxy clusters.
We choose three representative frequency bands, namely
\numrange{120}{128}, \numrange{154}{162}, and \numrange{192}{200}
\si{\MHz}, and perform simulations for a sky patch of size
\SI[product-units=repeat]{10 x 10}{\degree}.
The \SI{8}{\MHz} bandwidth is chosen to limit the effect of
cosmological evolution of the EoR signal when calculating power
spectra \citep[e.g.][]{wyithe2004,thyagarajan2013}.
The simulated sky maps are pixelized into \num{1800 x 1800} with a pixel
size of \SI{20}{\arcsecond}.
%========================================================================
\subsection{Radio Halos in Galaxy Clusters}
\label{sec:cluster-halos}
%========================================================================
As a significant improvement over our past works \citep{wang2010,wang2013},
we model the radio halos in galaxy clusters by employing the
Press--Schechter formalism and turbulent reacceleration model,
which was pioneered by \citet{brunetti2001} and \citet{petrosian2001}
and further developed in many works
\citep[e.g.,][]{fujita2003,brunetti2004,cassano2005,brunetti2007,brunetti2011}
to explain the observed properties and formation of radio halos
(see \citealt{brunetti2014rev} for a recent review).
In the framework of reacceleration model, relativistic electrons in the
ICM are reaccelerated by the turbulence generated in merger events via the
second-order Fermi process, and lose energies due to mechanisms including
synchrotron radiation, inverse Compton scattering off the CMB photons, and
Coulomb collisions with the thermal ICM.
For a galaxy cluster, we first simulate its merging history according to
the extended Press--Schechter theory and then derive the temporal evolution
of the relativistic electron spectrum by applying the reacceleration
model.
Finally, the radio halo associated with the galaxy cluster is identified
and its synchrotron radiation is determined.
%------------------------------------------------------------------------
\subsubsection{Mass Function}
\label{sec:mass-function}
%------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Press--Schechter formalism was originally advanced as one of the standard
methods to predict the mass function of galaxy clusters and their evolution
in the universe \citep{press1974} and has been extended to combine with
the cold dark matter (CDM) models \citep[e.g.,][]{bond1991,lacey1993}.
In this formalism, the number of galaxy clusters per unit of comoving volume
at redshift $z$ in the mass range $[M, M + \R{d}M]$ is
\begin{multline}
\label{eq:ps-mass-func}
n(M, z) \,\D{M} = \sqrt{\frac{2}{\pi}} \frac{\langle{\rho}\rangle}{M}
\frac{\delta_c(z)}{\sigma^2(M)} \left| \diff{\sigma(M)}{M} \right| \\
\times \exp\!\left[ -\frac{\delta_c^2(z)}{2\sigma^2(M)} \right] \D{M},
\end{multline}
where $M$ is the virial mass of galaxy clusters,
$\langle {\rho} \rangle$ is the current mean density of the universe,
$\delta_c(z)$ is the critical linear overdensity for a region to collapse
at redshift $z$ [see \autoref{eq:delta-crit}],
and $\sigma(M)$ is the current root-mean-square (rms) density
fluctuations within a sphere of mean mass $M$.
Considering the CDM model and the mass range covered by galaxy clusters,
it is reasonable to adopt the following power-law distribution for the
density perturbations \citep{randall2002,sarazin2002}
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:sigma-mass}
\sigma(M) = \sigma_8 \left( \frac{M}{M_8} \right)^{-\alpha},
\end{equation}
where $\sigma_8$ is the current rms density fluctuation on
a scale of \SI{8}{\per\hubble\Mpc},
$M_8 = (4\pi/3)(8 \,\si{\per\hubble\Mpc})^3 \langle{\rho}\rangle$
is the mass contained in a sphere of radius \SI{8}{\per\hubble\Mpc},
and the exponent $\alpha = (n+3)/6$ with $n = -7/5$ \citep{randall2002}
is related to the fluctuation pattern whose power spectrum varies
with wave number $k$ as $k^n$.
With a minimum galaxy cluster mass of
$M_{\R{min}} = \SI{2e14}{\solarmass}$
and a maximum redshift cut at $z_{\R{max}} = 4$,
we apply \autoref{eq:ps-mass-func} and
calculate that the total number of galaxy clusters in a
\SI[product-units=repeat]{10 x 10}{\degree} sky patch is 504.
Then the galaxy cluster sample is built by randomly drawing mass and
redshift pairs $(M_{\R{sim}}, z_{\R{sim}})$ from the
mass and redshift distributions as shown in \autoref{fig:m-z-dist},
which are determined by the Press--Schechter mass function
[\autoref{eq:ps-mass-func}].
\begin{figure}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{mass-z-dist}
\caption{\label{fig:m-z-dist}%
The mass (upper panel) and redshift (lower panel) histograms of the
simulated galaxy clusters in a
\SI[product-units=repeat]{10 x 10}{\degree} sky patch.
The solid lines and shaded regions represent the means and
68\% uncertainties derived from 500 simulation runs,
respectively.
}
\end{figure}
%------------------------------------------------------------------------
\subsubsection{Merging History}
\label{sec:merging-history}
%------------------------------------------------------------------------
The extended Press--Schechter theory outlined in \citet{lacey1993} provides
a way to describe the growth history of galaxy clusters in terms of the
merger tree.
In order to build the merger tree for a galaxy cluster, we start with
its \enquote{current} mass $M_{\R{sim}}$ and redshift $z_{\R{sim}}$ obtained
in \autoref{sec:mass-function}, and trace its growth history back in time
by running Monte Carlo simulations to randomly determine the mass change
$\Delta M$ at each step, which may be regarded either as a merger event
(if $\Delta M > \Delta M_c$) or as an accretion event
(if $\Delta M \leq \Delta M_c$).
Since radio halos are usually associated with major mergers, we choose
$\Delta M_c = \SI{e13}{\solarmass}$ \citep[e.g.,][]{cassano2005}.
We assume that, during each growth step, the cluster mass increases
from $M_1$ at time $t_1$ to $M_2$ at a later time $t_2$ ($> t_1$).
Given $M_2$ and $t_2$, the conditional probability of the cluster had
a progenitor of mass in the range $[M_1, M_1 + \D{M_1}]$ at an earlier
time $t_1$ can be expressed as
\begin{multline}
\label{eq:eps-condprob}
\R{Pr}(M_1, t_1 | M_2, t_2) \,\D{M_1} =
\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi}} \frac{M_2}{M_1}
\frac{\delta_{c1} - \delta_{c2}}{(\sigma_1^2 - \sigma_2^2)^{3/2}} \\
\times \left| \diff{\sigma_1^2}{M_1} \right|
\exp \!\left[ -\frac{(\delta_{c1} - \delta_{c2})^2}
{2(\sigma_1^2 - \sigma_2^2)} \right] \D{M_1},
\end{multline}
where
$\delta_{ci} \equiv \delta_c(t_i)$, $\sigma_i \equiv \sigma(M_i)$, and
$i = 1, 2$ are used to denote parameters defined at time $t_1$ and $t_2$,
respectively \citep{lacey1993,randall2002}.
By further introducing $S \equiv \sigma^2(M)$ and
$\omega \equiv \delta_c(t)$, this equation reduces to
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:eps-condprob-simp}
\R{Pr}(\Delta S, \Delta \omega) \,\D{\Delta S} = \frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi}}
\frac{\Delta\omega}{(\Delta S)^{3/2}}
\exp \!\left[ -\frac{(\Delta\omega)^2}{2 \Delta S} \right] \D{\Delta S}.
\end{equation}
In order to resolve mergers with a mass change $\Delta M_c \ll M$
during the backward tracing of a galaxy cluster, a time step $\Delta t$
(i.e., $\Delta\omega$) that satisfies
\begin{equation}
\label{sec:dw-step}
\Delta\omega \lesssim \Delta\omega_{\R{max}} = \left[
S \left| \diff{\ln \sigma^2}{\ln M} \right|
\left( \frac{\Delta M_c}{M} \right) \right]^{1/2}
\end{equation}
is required \citep{lacey1993}, and we adopt an adaptive step of
$\Delta\omega = \Delta\omega_{\R{max}} / 2$ \citep{randall2002}.
At a certain step when $\Delta\omega$ is given, the mass change
$\Delta S$ can be randomly drawn from the following cumulative
probability distribution of subcluster masses
\begin{align}
\label{sec:cdf-sub-masses}
\R{Pr}(<\!\Delta S, \Delta\omega)
& = \int_0^{\Delta S} \R{Pr}(\Delta S', \Delta\omega) \,\D{\Delta S'} \\
& = 1 - \erf \!\left( \frac{\Delta \omega}{\sqrt{2 \Delta S}} \right),
\end{align}
where
$\erf(x) = (2/\!\sqrt{\pi}) \int_0^x \R{e}^{-t^2} \,\D{t}$
is the error function.
Then, the cluster's progenitor mass $M_1$ is obtained as
$S_1 = S_2 + \Delta S$.
Given that observable radio halos are regarded to be associated
with recent (in the observer's frame) major mergers
and have typical lifetimes of $\tau_{\R{halo}} \lesssim \SI{1}{\Gyr}$
at \SI{1.4}{\GHz} \citep[e.g.,][]{brunetti2009,cassano2016},
we trace the merging history of each galaxy cluster for
$t_{\R{back}} = \SI{3}{\Gyr}$ from its \enquote{current}
age $t_{\R{sim}}$ (corresponding to $z_{\R{sim}}$).
For each built merger tree, we extract the information of all
the mergers associated with the main cluster to carry out the
subsequent simulation of radio halos.
As shown in the upper panel of \autoref{fig:merging-history},
we took one galaxy cluster of mass \SI{e15}{\solarmass} as an example and
repeated the random merger tree build process for 30 times.
We also randomly drew 30 galaxy clusters from the sample constructed
in \autoref{sec:mass-function} and built one merger tree instance for each
galaxy cluster, as shown in the lower panel.
\begin{figure}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{merging-history}
\caption{\label{fig:merging-history}%
\textbf{(Upper)} Merger trees for one galaxy cluster of mass
\SI{e15}{\solarmass} obtained by repeating the random build process
for 30 times.
\textbf{(Lower)} Example merger trees for 30 galaxy clusters randomly
drawn from the sample constructed in \autoref{sec:mass-function}.
Asterisks mark merger events and dots represent accretion events.
}
\end{figure}
%------------------------------------------------------------------------
\subsubsection{Evolution Modeling}
\label{sec:halo-evo}
%------------------------------------------------------------------------
According to the reacceleration model, there exists a population of
primary (or fossil) high-energy electrons, which permeate the ICM and
are thought to be injected by multiple processes, such as active
galactic nucleus (AGN) activities and star formations
(see \citealt{blasi2007rev} for a review).
When a cluster experiences a major merger, the turbulence is generated
throughout the ICM and can accelerate the primary electrons to be highly
relativistic, resulting in the observed radio halo.
On the other hand, relativistic electrons in the ICM lose energy via
mechanisms that include synchrotron radiation, inverse Compton scattering
off the CMB photons, and Coulomb collisions \citep{sarazin1999}.
For a population of electrons with isotropic energy distribution, the
temporal evolution of the number density distribution $n(\gamma, t)$
is governed by the following Fokker--Planck diffusion--advection equation
\citep{eilek1991,schlickeiser2002}
\begin{multline}
\label{eq:fokkerplanck}
\pdiff{n(\gamma,t)}{t} = \pdiff{}{\gamma} \left[ n(\gamma,t) \left(
\left| \diff{\gamma}{t} \right| -
\frac{2}{\gamma} D_{\gamma\gamma}(\gamma, t) \right) \right] \\
+ \pdiff{}{\gamma} \left[ D_{\gamma\gamma} \pdiff{n(\gamma,t)}{\gamma}
\right] + Q_e(\gamma,t),
\end{multline}
where $\gamma$ is the Lorentz factor of electrons,
$D_{\gamma\gamma}(\gamma, t)$ is the diffusion coefficient describing
the interactions between the turbulence and electrons,
$|\R{d}\gamma / \R{d}t|$ is the energy-loss rate,
and $Q_e(\gamma, t)$ describes the electron injection.
%........................................................................
\setcounter{sssseccount}{0}
\ssssec{Thermal Properties of the ICM}
The number density of thermal electrons $n_{\R{th}}$ in the ICM can be
calculated as
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:n-th}
n_{\R{th}} \simeq
\frac{3 f_{\R{gas}} M_{\R{vir}}}{4\pi \mu m_u \,r^3_{\R{vir}}},
\end{equation}
where
$\mu \simeq 0.6$ is the mean molecular weight \citep[e.g.,][]{ettori2013},
$m_u$ is the atomic mass unit,
$M_{\R{vir}}$ is the cluster's virial mass,
$r_{\R{vir}}$ is the virial radius [see \autoref{eq:radius-virial}],
and
$f_{\R{gas}} \simeq \Omega_b/\Omega_m$ is the assumed gas mass fraction.
Then, the corresponding ICM thermal energy density $\epsilon_{\R{th}}$
is given by
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:e-th}
\epsilon_{\R{th}} = \frac{3}{2} \,n_{\R{th}} k_B T_{\R{cl}}.
\end{equation}
The ICM mean temperature $T_{\R{cl}}$ is approximately given by
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:t-icm}
T_{\R{cl}} \simeq T_{\R{vir}} + \frac{3}{2} \,T_{\R{out}}
\end{equation}
\citep{cavaliere1998},
where
$T_{\R{vir}} = \mu m_u G M_{\R{vir}} / (2 \,r_{\R{vir}})$ is the virial
temperature and $T_{\R{out}} \simeq \SI{0.5}{\keV}$ is the temperature
of the gas flowing into the cluster from its outskirts \citep{fujita2003}.
%........................................................................
\ssssec{Electron Injection}
As primary electrons are continuously injected into the ICM via multiple
processes, it is reasonable to assume an average injection rate and a
power-law spectrum for the electron injection process
\citep[e.g.,][]{cassano2005,donnert2014}, i.e.,
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:electron-inj}
Q_e(\gamma, t) \simeq Q_e(\gamma) = K_e \,\gamma^{-s},
\end{equation}
where the spectral index $s$ is adopted to be 2.5 \citep{cassano2005}.
Moreover, the energy density of the injected electrons can be assumed to
account for a fraction ($\eta_e$) of the ICM thermal energy density
\citep{cassano2005}, i.e.,
\begin{equation}
\tau_{\R{cl}} \int_{\gamma_{\R{min}}}^{\gamma_{\R{max}}}
Q_e(\gamma') \gamma'\epsilon_e \,\D{\gamma'}
= \eta_e \,\epsilon_{\R{th}},
\end{equation}
where $\tau_{\R{cl}} \simeq t_{\R{sim}}$ is the cluster's age at its
\enquote{current} redshift $z_{\R{sim}}$,
and $\epsilon_e = m_e c^2$ is the electron's rest energy.
Given $\gamma_{\R{min}} \ll \gamma_{\R{\max}}$, the injection rate $K_e$
is derived to be
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:injrate}
K_e \simeq \frac{(s-2)\,\eta_e\,\epsilon_{\R{th}}}{\epsilon_e\,\tau_{\R{cl}}}
\gamma_{\R{min}}^{s-2}.
\end{equation}
%........................................................................
\ssssec{Stripping Radius}
When a subcluster merges into the main cluster, the gas at its outer
regions is stripped due to the ram pressure \citep{gunn1972}.
The stripping radius $r_s$ of the subcluster, outside which the stripping
is efficient, can be obtained from the equipartition between the ram
pressure and the hydrostatic pressure \citep{cassano2005}, i.e.,
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:rs-eqp}
\bar{\rho}_m v_{\R{imp}}^2 = \frac{\rho_s(r_s)}{\mu m_u} k_B T_{\R{cl,s}},
\end{equation}
where
$\bar{\rho}_m = \mu m_u n_{\R{th,m}}$ is the mean gas density of the main
cluster,
$v_{\R{imp}}$ is the impact velocity of the two merging clusters,
and $\rho_s(r)$ and $T_{\R{cl,s}}$ are the gas density profile and
temperature of the subcluster, respectively.
Starting from a sufficiently large distance with zero velocity,
the impact velocity $v_{\R{imp}}$ of two merging clusters with
masses $M_{\R{vir,m}}$ and $M_{\R{vir,s}}$ is given by
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:v-imp}
v_{\R{imp}} \simeq \left[
\frac{2G (M_{\R{vir,m}} + M_{\R{vir,s}})}{r_{\R{vir,m}}}
\left( 1 - \frac{1}{\eta_v} \right)\right]^{1/2},
\end{equation}
where $\eta_v \simeq 4 \,(1 + M_{\R{vir,s}}/M_{\R{vir,m}})^{1/3}$
\citep{sarazin2002,cassano2005}.
The gas density profile $\rho_s(r)$ can be well approximated with
a standard $\beta$-model \citep{cavaliere1976}:
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:beta-model}
\rho_s(r) = \rho_s(0) \left[1 + (r / r_{\R{c,s}})^2 \right]^{-3\beta/2},
\end{equation}
where
$r_{\R{c,s}}$ and $\beta$ are the core radius and slope parameter,
respectively, and we adopt $r_{\R{c,s}} = 0.1 \,r_{\R{vir,s}}$
\citep[e.g.,][]{sanderson2003} and
$\beta = 2/3$ \citep[e.g.,][]{jones1984}.
The central gas density $\rho_s(0)$ can then be determined by the total gas
mass ($M_{\R{gas,s}} = f_{\R{gas}} M_{\R{vir,s}}$).
%........................................................................
\ssssec{Turbulent Acceleration}
The details of interactions between the turbulence and both thermal and
relativistic particles are complicated and still poorly understood.
Among several particle acceleration mechanisms that can be potentially
triggered by the turbulence, the most important one is the transit time
damping process, i.e., the turbulence dissipates its energy and
accelerates particles by interacting with the relativistic particles
(e.g., cosmic rays) in the ICM
\citep[and references therein]{brunetti2007,brunetti2011}.
The associated diffusion coefficient is derived to be
\citep{miniati2015,pinzke2017}
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:dpp}
D_{\gamma\gamma} = 2 \gamma^2 \zeta \,k_L
\frac{\langle (\delta v_t)^2 \rangle^2}{\chi_{\R{cr}} \, c_s^3},
\end{equation}
where
$\zeta$ is an efficiency factor characterizing the ICM plasma instabilities
(e.g., due to spatial or temporal intermittency),
$\chi_{\R{cr}} = \epsilon_{\R{cr}} / \epsilon_{\R{th}}$ is the relative
energy density of cosmic rays with respect to the thermal ICM,
$k_L \simeq 2\pi / r_{\R{turb}}$ is the turbulence injection scale
with $r_{\R{turb}}$ being the radius of the turbulence region,
$\langle (\delta v_t)^2 \rangle$ is the turbulence velocity dispersion,
and $c_s$ is the sound speed in the ICM
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:sound-speed}
c_s = \sqrt{\gamma_{\R{gas}} k_B T_{\R{cl}} / (\mu m_u)}
\end{equation}
with $\gamma_{\R{gas}} = 5/3$ being the adiabatic index
of ideal monatomic gas.
In addition to mergers, mechanisms such as outflows from AGNs and galactic
winds can introduce turbulence in the ICM, which is found to account for
$\lesssim 5\%$ of the thermal energy in the central regions
of relaxed clusters \citep[e.g.,][]{vazza2011}.
Therefore, the base velocity dispersion $\langle (\delta v_0)^2 \rangle$
of the turbulence in the absence of mergers is
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:v-turb-base}
\langle (\delta v_0)^2 \rangle
= 3 \chi_{\R{turb}} \frac{k_B T_{\R{cl,m}}}{\mu m_u} ,
\end{equation}
where
$\chi_{\R{turb}}$ is the ratio of energy density between the base
turbulence and the thermal ICM.
A merger will contribute a significant part of its energy to the turbulence
and greatly increase the turbulence velocity dispersion
$\langle (\delta v_t)^2 \rangle$, which leads to
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:energy-turb}
E_{\R{turb}} =
\frac{1}{2} M_{\R{turb}} \langle (\delta v_t)^2 \rangle =
\frac{1}{2} M_{\R{turb}} \langle (\delta v_0)^2 \rangle + \eta_t E_m ,
\end{equation}
where
$E_m$ is the energy injected by the subcluster during the merger,
$\eta_t$ is the fraction of injected energy ($E_m$) transferred into
turbulent waves,
and $M_{\R{turb}}$ is the gas mass enclosed in the turbulence region
of radius $r_{\R{turb}}$, i.e.,
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:mass-turb}
M_{\R{turb}} = \int_0^{r_{\R{turb}}} \! \rho(r) 4\pi r^2 \,\D{r},
\end{equation}
where $\rho(r)$ is the gas density profile of the merged cluster
characterized by the $\beta$-model [see \autoref{eq:beta-model}].
The injected energy $E_m$ is approximated as the work done by the infalling
subcluster, i.e.,
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:energy-inj}
E_m \simeq \bar{\rho}_m v_{\R{imp}}^2 V_{\R{turb}},
\end{equation}
with $V_{\R{turb}} \simeq \pi r_s^2 \,r_{\R{vir,m}}$ being the swept volume
\citep{fujita2003,cassano2005}.
Therefore, the turbulence velocity dispersion during a merger is obtained
as
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:v-turb}
\langle (\delta v_t)^2 \rangle
= \langle (\delta v_0)^2 \rangle
+ 2 \pi\,\eta_t\, \bar{\rho}_m r_{\R{vir,m}}
\,\frac{r_s^2 v_{\R{imp}}^2}{M_{\R{turb}}} .
\end{equation}
One remaining parameter is the turbulence region radius $r_{\R{turb}}$,
which is estimated to be
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:radius-turb}
r_{\R{turb}} = r_s + r_{\R{c,m}} ,
\end{equation}
where
$r_{\R{c,m}} = 0.1 \,r_{\R{vir,m}}$ is the core radius of the main cluster,
and $r_s$ is the stripping radius of the subcluster
[see \autoref{eq:rs-eqp}]
with a value of $\sim \numrange{1}{2} \,r_{\R{c,m}}$
for major mergers ($M_{\R{vir,m}} / M_{\R{vir,s}} \lesssim 3$)
and $< r_{\R{c,m}}$ for minor mergers
($M_{\R{vir,m}} / M_{\R{vir,s}} \sim \numrange{3}{10}$).
This assumption is well consistent with previous simulation studies, which
show that mergers introduce turbulence in regions of radius about
$\numrange{0.1}{0.3} \,r_{\R{vir,m}}$
\citep[e.g.,][]{vazza2011,vazza2012,miniati2015ss}.
We note that minor mergers can also generate
a relatively large turbulence region of radius about $r_{\R{c,m}}$
due to the core gas sloshing induced by the infalling subcluster
\citep{vazza2012}.
However, the generated turbulence by a minor merger is rather weak because
the injected energy $E_m$ is much less than a major one
[see \autoref{eq:energy-inj}].
%........................................................................
\ssssec{Energy Losses}
Among the mechanisms through which relativistic electrons
in the ICM can lose energy, we take into account the following three
major mechanisms in this work \citep{sarazin1999}.
The first one is the inverse Compton scattering off the CMB photons,
the energy-loss rate of which is
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:eloss-ic}
\left( \diff{\gamma}{t} \right)_{\R{IC}} =
\num{-4.32e-4} \,\gamma^2 (1+z)^4
\quad [\si{\per\Gyr}].
\end{equation}
Secondly, with the \si{\uG}-level magnetic field permeating the ICM
\citep[e.g.,][]{govoni2004,ryu2008}, relativistic electrons will
produce synchrotron radiation and lose energy at a rate of
\begin{equation}
\label{eq:eloss-syn}
\left( \diff{\gamma}{t} \right)_{\R{syn}} =
\num{-4.10e-5} \,\gamma^2 \left( \frac{B}{\SI{1}{\uG}} \right)^2
\quad [\si{\per\Gyr}],
\end{equation}
where $B$ is the magnetic field strength.
We assume that the magnetic field is uniform and its energy density reaches
equipartition with that of cosmic rays, i.e.,
$\epsilon_B = B^2/(8\pi) \simeq \epsilon_{\R{cr}} = \chi_{\R{cr}}\,\epsilon_{\R{th}}$
\citep{beck2005}.
The last mechanism considered is that relativistic electrons interact
with the thermal electrons via Coulomb collisions, the energy-loss rate
of which is
\begin{multline}
\label{eq:eloss-coul}
\left( \diff{\gamma}{t} \right)_{\R{Coul}} =
\num{-3.79e4} \left( \frac{n_{\R{th}}}{\SI{1}{\per\cm\cubed}} \right)
\\ \times
\left[ 1 + \frac{1}{75} \ln \left(
\gamma \,\frac{\SI{1}{\per\cm\cubed}}{n_{\R{th}}} \right) \right]
\quad [\si{\per\Gyr}].
\end{multline}
The inverse Compton scattering and synchrotron radiation dominate
the energy losses at the high-energy regime ($\gamma \gtrsim 1000$),
while Coulomb collisions are the main energy-loss mechanism for electrons
with lower energies ($\gamma \lesssim 100$).
Therefore, electrons with intermediate energies (e.g., $\gamma \sim 300$)
have a long lifetime (\SI{\sim 3}{\Gyr}) and can accumulate in the ICM
as the cluster grows \citep{sarazin1999}.
%------------------------------------------------------------------------
\subsubsection{Numerical Implementation}
\label{sec:numerical}
%------------------------------------------------------------------------
\begin{figure*}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth]{spec-evo-example}
\caption{\label{fig:spec-evo}%
The temporal evolution of the electron and synchrotron
emission spectra for an example cluster with one major merger,
which begins at redshift $z = 0.3$ (i.e., $t \simeq \SI{10.3}{\Gyr}$)
and is tracked until $z = 0.15$ (i.e., $t \simeq \SI{11.8}{\Gyr}$).
\textbf{(a)} The relativistic electron spectra (solid lines) and the
corresponding reference electron spectra (dashed lines; see
\autoref{sec:halo-size}).
\textbf{(b)} The synchrotron emission spectra (solid lines) and the
corresponding reference synchrotron spectra (dashed lines).
\textbf{(c)} The variation of \SI{158}{\MHz} (solid blue line) and
\SI{1400}{\MHz} (solid purple line) synchrotron emissivity as well as
the corresponding reference emissivity (dashed lines) with time.
\textbf{(d)} The temporal variation of spectral indices at
\SI{158}{\MHz} (blue line) and \SI{1400}{\MHz} (purple line).
Shaded regions show the periods during which the radio halo exists
(see \autoref{sec:halo-size}).
Asterisks mark the time points corresponding to the spectra presented
in panels (a) and (b).
}
\end{figure*}
In order to solve the Fokker--Planck equation [\autoref{eq:fokkerplanck}],
we apply an efficient numerical method proposed by \citet{chang1970}
and adopt the no-flux boundary condition \citep{park1996}.
To avoid the unphysical pile up of electrons around the lower boundary
caused by the boundary condition,
we define a buffer region below $\gamma_{\R{buf}}$, within which
the spectral data are replaced by extrapolating the data above
$\gamma_{\R{buf}}$ as a power-law spectrum \citep{donnert2014}.
We adopt a logarithmic grid with 256 cells for $\gamma \in [1, 10^6]$,
and let the buffer region span 10 cells.
By making use of the same Fokker--Planck equation but with the
merger-induced turbulent acceleration turned off [i.e., $E_m \equiv 0$ and