The cluster relic source in A 521

We present high sensitivity radio observations of the merging cluster A 521, at a mean redshift z = 0.247. The observations were carried out with the GMRT at 610 MHz and cover a region of ∼1 square degree, with a sensitivity limit of 1σ = 35 μJy b−1. The most relevant result of these observations is the presence of a radio relic at the cluster periphery, at the edge of a region where group infalling into the main cluster is taking place. Thanks to the wealth of information available in the literature in the optical and X-ray bands, a multi-band study of the relic and its surroundings was performed. Our analysis is suggestive of a connection between this source and the complex ongoing merger in the A 521 region. The relic might be “revived’ fossil radio plasma through adiabatic compression of the magnetic field or shock re-acceleration due to the merger events. We also briefly discussed the possibility that this source is the result of induced ram pressure stripping of radio lobes associated with the nearby cluster radio galaxy J0454–1016a. Allowing for the large uncertainties due to the small statistics, the number of radio emitting early-type galaxies found in A 521 is consistent with the expectations from the standard radio luminosity function for local (z ⩽ 0.09) cluster ellipticals.