Low Frequency Radio Observations of X-ray Ghost Bubbles in Abell 2597: a History of Radio Activity in the Core

A previous analysis of the Chandra X-ray image of the center of the cooling core cluster Abell 2597 showed two “ghost holes” in the X-ray emission to the west and northeast of the central radio galaxy PKS 2322−123. Previous radio observations did not detect any radio emission coming from the interior of the X-ray holes. We present new low frequency radio observations of Abell 2597. At 330 MHz, radio emission extends into the interior of the western ghost bubble, but not the northeast one. Our re-analysis of the archival Chandra data shows evidence for an X-ray tunnel (elongated region of reduced X-ray emission) extending from near the center of the cD out to the west ghost bubble. We also detect a smaller X-ray hole to the northeast of the center of the cD and closer than the outer ghost bubbles. Radio observations at 1.3 GHz show extensions to the west along the X-ray tunnel toward the west ghost bubble, to the northeast into the new X-ray hole, and to the northwest. All of these structures are much larger than the two inner radio lobes seen previously at 8 GHz. The X-ray tunnel suggests that the west ghost bubble is part of a continuous flow of radio plasma out from the active galactic nucleus, rather than a detached buoyant old radio lobe, and thus it may be an intermediate case between an active radio galaxy and a buoyant lobe. Subject headings: cooling flows — galaxies: clusters: general — galaxies: clusters: individual (Abell 2597) — intergalactic medium — radio continuum: galaxies — X-rays: galaxies: clusters