Polarization of cluster radio halos with upcoming radio interferometers
  Synchrotron radio halos at the center of merging galaxy clusters provide the
most spectacular and direct evidence of the presence of relativistic particles
and magnetic fields associated with the intracluster medium. The study of
polarized emission from radio halos has been shown to be extremely important to
constrain the properties of intracluster magnetic fields. However, detecting
this polarized signal is a very hard task with the current radio facilities.We
investigate whether future radio observatories, such as the Square Kilometer
Array (SKA) and its precursors and pathfinders, will be able to detect the
polarized emission of radio halos in galaxy clusters.On the basis of
cosmological magnetohydrodynamical simulations with initial magnetic fields
injected by active galactic nuclei, we predict the expected radio halo
polarized signal at 1.4 GHz. We compare these expectations with the limits of
current radio facilities and explore the potential of the forthcoming radio
interferometers to investigate intracluster magnetic fields through the
detection of polarized emission from radio halos.The resolution and sensitivity
values that are expected to be obtained in future sky surveys performed at 1.4
GHz using the SKA precursors and pathfinders (like APERTIF and ASKAP) are very
promising for the detection of the polarized emission of the most powerful
(L1.4GHz>10e25 Watt/Hz) radio halos. Furthermore, the JVLA have the potential
to already detect polarized emission from strong radio halos, at a relatively
low resolution.However, the possibility of detecting the polarized signal in
fainter radio halos (L1.4GHz~10e24 Watt/Hz) at high resolution requires a
sensitivity reachable only with SKA.
