Program: GN-2009B-Q-46

We propose to verify that the physical mechanism responsible for the bending of the radio jets in Abell 562 is a recent cluster merger. It has been proposed that the radio jets in wide-angle tailed radio sources (WATs) bend by ram pressure between the jets and the intra-cluster medium (ICM). A new ram pressure model for this cluster suggests that a velocity of about 800 km/s is needed for bending its radio jets. However, the optical counterpart of this WAT is a massive central galaxy that is believed to be at rest within the cluster. Nevertheless, it has been proposed that during a cluster merger large bulk flow motions are produced in the core of the merging cluster with velocities as large as 1000 km/s. We propose to determine if a cluster merger is a likely physical mechanism responsible for the WAT in Abell 562. Thus, we propose to obtain at least 100 new galaxy velocities in order to achieve the following goals. First, we will measure the peculiar velocity of the WAT. Second, we will determine the dynamical state of the cluster by analyzing evidence of substructure in the velocity distribution of more than 100 galaxy velocities. Third, we will measure the actual ram pressure present at the points of jet bending by combining these velocity measurements with recent analysis of radio observations and new ICM density measurements derived from archival Chandra X-ray data.