AGN Feedback and Star Formation in Galaxy Clusters: Insights from M87
Date:
During my visit to the University of Waterloo, I gave a talk on AGN feedback and its role in regulating star formation in galaxy clusters. I began by outlining the primary mechanisms through which AGN feedback operates—heating the intracluster medium (ICM), driving molecular outflows, uplifting low-entropy gas, and, in some cases, triggering star formation. I also highlighted findings from my previous work, which demonstrated that radio bubbles inflated by AGN can efficiently lift large quantities of gas to high altitudes.
In the second part of the talk, I focused on my recent research on M87, the central galaxy in the nearest cool-core cluster. Using deep ultraviolet imaging from the Hubble Space Telescope, we found no evidence for ongoing star formation in M87. Our results show that the two most recent AGN outbursts did not trigger detectable star formation. However, we identified a mild starburst that occurred approximately 125 million years ago, which may be linked to an older episode of AGN activity.