The great Kite in the sky: a LOFAR observation of the radio source in Abell 2626

Abstract

The radio source at the center of the galaxy cluster Abell 2626, also known as the Kite, stands out for its unique morphology composed of four, symmetric arcs. Previous studies have probed the properties of this source at different frequencies and its interplay with the surrounding thermal plasma, but the puzzle of its origin is still unsolved. We use new LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) observation from the LOFAR Two-meter Sky Survey at 144 MHz to investigate the origin of the Kite.} We present a detailed analysis of the new radio data which we combined with archival radio and X-ray observations. We have produced a new, resolved spectral index map of the source with a resolution of 7$''$ and we studied the spatial correlation of radio and X-ray emission to investigate the interplay between thermal and non-thermal plasma. The new LOFAR data have changed our view of the Kite by discovering two steep-spectrum ($\alpha