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Active-galactic-nucleus feedback is the transfer of energy and momentum from an active galactic nucleus to surrounding gas. Radiation can heat or accelerate the gas, while astrophysical jets and galactic outflows inject mechanical energy. Heating may offset radiative cooling and reduce the cold material available for star formation or further black-hole accretion; compression can instead favour local star formation. Evidence includes cavities in hot X-ray-emitting plasma that coincide with radio wave emission, together with surrounding shock waves. Their sizes and the ambient pressure constrain the mechanical work, while estimated ages convert an energy budget into a mean power. Such measurements test whether nuclear activity can regulate gas on scales much larger than the central black hole.^[ref]

Brian McNamara coauthored observations connecting X-ray cavities and shocks in a galaxy cluster with heating of its surrounding gas. The study investigates how activity near a central supermassive black hole can transfer energy to a much larger environment.^[ref]