Impact of AGNs on the Surrounding Medium

Abstract

The time- and ensemble-averaged mechanical energy outputs of radio galaxies may be large enough to offset much of the cooling inferred from X-ray observations of galaxy clusters. But does this heating actually counterbalance the cooling, diminishing cooling flows or quenching them altogether? I will argue that energy injection by radio galaxies may be important even in clusters where no active source is present, due to the likely intermittency of the jets. If the energy injected by radio galaxies percolates through the intracluster medium without excessive mixing, it could stabilize the atomic cooling responsible for X-ray emission.