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T. E. Clarke (NRAO), T. A. En{ß}lin (MPA)
The galaxy cluster Abell 2256 appears to be in the violent stage of a giant cluster merger event. We present detailed VLA images which reveal the complex nature of the emission in this cluster. In addition to the well-known head-tail radio galaxies and diffuse radio relics in Abell 2256, our images reveal the presence of a large scale, diffuse synchrotron halo in the central regions of the cluster. Polarization observations show that the majority of the relic region has a polarization fraction greater than 30%. Using our Faraday rotation measure maps, we investigate the structure of the foreground and relic magnetic fields. We also consider possible cluster merger scenarios which may have produced the observed synchrotron emission.