In-situ acceleration of radio-emitting particles in the lobes of radio galaxies: Evolving observational perspective and recent clues

Abstract

The issue of radiation mechanisms triggered in 1950–60s the first applications of plasma physics to understand the nature of radio galaxies. This interplay has steadily intensified during the past five decades due to the premise of in-situ acceleration of relativistic electrons occurring in the lobes of radio galaxies. This article briefly traces the chain of these remarkable developments, largely from an observational perspective. We recount several observational and theoretical milestones established along the way and the lessons drawn from them. We also present a new observational clue about in-situ acceleration of the relativistic particles radiating in the lobes of radio galaxies, gleaned by us from the very recently published sensitive radio observations of a tailed radio source in the galaxy cluster Abell 1033.