XMM-Newton Observations of the Southeastern Radio Relic in Abell 3667

Radio relics, elongated, non-thermal, structures located at the edges of galaxy clusters, are the result of synchrotron radiation from cosmic ray electrons accelerated by merger-driven shocks at the cluster outskirts. However, X-ray observations of such shocks in some clusters suggest that they are too weak to efficiently accelerate electrons via diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) to energies required to produce the observed radio power. We examine this issue in the merging galaxy cluster Abell 3667 (A3667), which hosts a pair of radio relics. While the north-west relic in A3667 has been well studied in the radio and X-ray by multiple instruments, the south-east relic region has only been observed so far by Suzaku, which detected a temperature jump across the relic, suggesting the presence of a weak shock. We present observations of the Southeastern region of A3667 with XMM–Newton centred on the radio relic. We confirm the existence of an X-ray shock with Mach number of about 1.8 from a clear detection of temperature jump and a tentative detection of a density jump, consistent with previous measurements by Suzaku. We discuss the implications of this measurement for DSA as the main mechanism for explaining the origin of radio relics. We then speculate on the plausibility of alternative scenarios, including reacceleration and variations in the Mach number along shock fronts.