Rotation measures in A2255 at 18, 21, 25, 85cm

In this document, I will briefly review our knowledge on polarized radio sources in galaxy clusters and at their outskirts, emphasizing the crucial information provided by the polarized signal on the origin and evolution of such sources. Successively, I will focus on Abell 2255, which is known in the literature as the first cluster for which filamentary polarized emission associated with the radio halo has been detected.

By using RM (plasma Rotation Measure) synthesis on our multi-wavelength WSRT observations, we studied the 3-dimensional geometry of the cluster, unveiling the nature of the polarized filaments at the borders of the central radio halo. Our analysis points out that these structures are relics lying at large distance from the cluster center.