Do radio relics challenge diffusive shock acceleration?

Radio relics in galaxy clusters are thought to be associated with powerful shock waves that accelerate particles via diffusive shock acceleration (DSA). Among the particles accelerated by DSA, relativistic protons should outnumber electrons by a large factor.While the relativistic electrons emit synchrotron emission detectable in the radio band, the protons interact with the thermal gas to produce gamma-rays in hadronic interactions. Using simple models for the propagation of shock waves through clusters, the distribution of thermal gas and the efficiency of DSA, we find that the resulting hadronic gamma-ray emission lies very close or above the upper limits from the Fermi data on nearby clusters. This suggests that the relative acceleration efficiency of electrons and protons is at odds with predictions from DSA. The inclusion of re-accelerated 'fossil' particles does not seem to solve the problem. Our study highlights a possible tension of the commonly assumed scenario for the formation of radio relics and we discuss possible solutions to the problem. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.