Astronomy Colloquium
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The hot, gaseous atmospheres of galaxies and clusters of galaxies are repositories for the energy output from active galactic nuclei (AGN) over cosmic time. X-ray observations are showing that star formation fueled by gas condensing out of hot atmospheres is strongly suppressed by AGN feedback. Dubbed "radio mode" feedback, this mechanism may solve several outstanding problems in astrophysics, including the numbers of
luminous galaxies and their colors, and the excess number of hot baryons in the Universe. I present new evidence that the most energetic AGN outbursts may be powered by rapidly-spinning, ultra-massive black holes.
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