Multiphase outflows driven by active galactic nuclei (AGN) have a profound impact on the evolution of their host galaxies. The effects of AGN feedback are especially prominent in the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) of cool-core clusters, where there is a concentration of gas in all phases, ranging from cold molecular gas to hot, >107 K ionized plasma. In this proceeding I describe recent simulation efforts to understand the formation and evolution of the 10-kpc-scale Hα-emitting filaments driven by AGN activities. Combined with observed star formation regions co-spatial with the filaments, this feedback mechanism can directly contribute to the growth of the central galaxy, albeit delayed by the characteristic radiative cooling timescale, ∼10 Myr, of the outflowing plasma.

We present deep low radio frequency (230-470 MHz) observations from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array of the Perseus cluster, probing the non-thermal emission from the old particle population of the AGN outflows. Our observations of this nearby relaxed cool core cluster have revealed a multitude of new structures associated with the mini-halo, extending to hundreds of kpc in size. Its irregular morphology seems to have been influenced both by the AGN activity and by the sloshing motion of the cluster’ gas. In addition, it has a filamentary structure similar to that seen in radio relics found in merging clusters. These results illustrate the high-quality images that can be obtained with the new JVLA at low radio-frequencies.

We present a multi-wavelength study of a nearby radio loud elliptical galaxy NGC 708, selected from the Bologna B2 sample of radio galaxies. We obtained optical broad band and narrow images from IGO 2m telescope (Pune, India). We supplement the multi-wavelength coverage of the observation by using X-ray data from Chandra, infrared data from 2MASS, Spitzer and WISE and optical image from DSS and HST. In order to investigate properties of interstellar medium, we have generated unsharp-masked, color, residual, quotient, dust extinction, Hα emission maps. From the derived maps it is evident that cool gas, dust, warm ionized Hα and hot X-ray gas are spatially associated with each other. We investigate the inner and outer photometric and kinematic properties of the galaxy using surface brightness profiles. From X-ray 2d beta model, unsharp masking, surface brightness profiles techniques, it is evident that pair of X-ray cavities are present in this system and which are ~5.6 Kpc away from the central X-ray source.

Supermassive black hole accretion and feedback play central role in the evolution of galaxies, groups, and clusters. I review how AGN feedback is tightly coupled with the formation of multiphase gas and the newly probed chaotic cold accretion (CCA). In a turbulent and heated atmosphere, cold clouds and kpc-scale filaments condense out of the plasma via thermal instability and rain toward the black hole. In the nucleus, the recurrent chaotic collisions between the cold clouds, filaments, and central torus promote angular momentum cancellation or mixing, boosting the accretion rate up to 100 times the Bondi rate. The rapid variability triggers powerful AGN outflows, which quench the cooling flow and star formation without destroying the cool core. The AGN heating stifles the formation of multiphase gas and accretion, the feedback subsides and the hot halo is allowed to cool again, restarting a new cycle. Ultimately, CCA creates a symbiotic link between the black hole and the whole host via a tight self-regulated feedback which preserves the gaseous halo in global thermal equilibrium throughout cosmic time.

Fossil galaxy groups are energetically and morphologically ideal environments to study the intergalactic medium (IGM) heating, because their inter-galactic gas is undisturbed due to the lack of recent group scale mergers. We study the role of active galactic nuclei (AGN) in heating the IGM in a sample of five fossil galaxy groups by employing properties at 610 MHz and 1.4 GHz. We find that two of the dominant galaxies in fossil groups, ESO 3060170 and RX J1416.4+2315, are associated with the radio lobes. We evaluate the PdV work of the radio lobes and their corresponding heating power and compare to the X-ray emission loss within cooling radius. Our results show that the power due to mechanical heating is not sufficiently high to suppress the cooling.

The first ‘Australian Cluster Workshop’ was held at the Australia Telescope National Facility in Sydney on 2001 February 6. The aim of the workshop was to bring together the many and varied groups working on clusters of galaxies in Australia, to forge new multi-disciplinary links, and to generate enthusiasm and support for new cluster work and further cluster meetings in Australia. In this paper I present a summary of the workshop as well as some additional review material intended to place current Australian research in a broader perspective, looking ahead to the major issues still to be addressed.

The first detection of a diffuse radio source in a cluster of galaxies, dates back to the 1959 (Coma Cluster, Large et al. 1959). Since then, synchrotron radiating radio sources have been found in several clusters, and represent an important cluster component which is linked to the thermal gas. Such sources indicate the existence of large scale magnetic fields and of a population of relativistic electrons in the cluster volume. The observational results provide evidence that these phenomena are related to turbulence and shock-structures in the intergalactic medium, thus playing a major role in the evolution of the large scale structure in the Universe. The interaction between radio sources and cluster gas is well established in particular at the center of cooling core clusters, where feedback from AGN is a necessary ingredient to adequately describe the formation and evolution of galaxies and host clusters.

Recent studies of the hot interstellar medium in normal elliptical galaxies have shown that (1) the gas is only approximately hydrostatic; (2) morphological disturbances are corrleated with radio and X-ray signatures of AGN; and (3) temperature gradients in the main bodies of the galaxies are correlated with nuclear activity but not with environment. An X-ray Gas Fundamental Plane (XGFP), unrelated to the stellar fundamental plane, links the global gas properties in a relation whose origin is not yet understood.

Clusters of galaxies contain several types of diffuse radio sources with very steep radio spectra which are associated with the cluster environment, including central radio bubbles, cluster radio relics, and cluster radio halos. Radio halos and relics are found only in merging clusters. Cluster radio relics may be produced by particle acceleration in merger shocks, while radio halos, may result from electron re-acceleration by turbulence produced by mergers. Secondary production of electrons and positrons by hadronic interactions also plays a role. If cluster radio halos and relics are related to mergers, then deep low frequency radio surveys could detect 1000's of clusters. Long-wavelength radio observations have a great potential to help us understand clusters and large scale structure, and can provide a diagnostic of cluster mergers, which affect the use of clusters in cosmological and dark energy studies.

Some results from a new CCD color imaging survey of centrally dominant cluster galaxies selected for their X-ray properties are discussed.