We use three-dimensional high-resolution adaptive-mesh-refinement simulations to investigate if mechanical feedback from active galactic nucleus jets can halt a massive cooling flow in a galaxy cluster and give rise to a self-regulated accretion cycle .
We start with a 3 \times 10 ^ { 9 } M _ { \odot } black hole at the centre of a spherical halo with the mass of the Virgo cluster .
Initially , all the baryons are in a hot intracluster medium in hydrostatic equilibrium within the dark matter ’ s gravitational potential .
The black hole accretes the surrounding gas at the Bondi rate and a fraction of the accretion power is returned into the intracluster medium mechanically through the production of jets .
The accretion , initially slow ( \sim 2 \times 10 ^ { -4 } M _ { \odot } { yr } ^ { -1 } ) , becomes catastrophic , as the gas cools and condenses in the dark matter ’ s potential .
Therefore , it can not prevent the cooling catastrophe at the centre of the cluster .
However , after this rapid phase , where the accretion rate reaches a peak of \sim 0.2 M _ { \odot } { yr } ^ { -1 } , the cavities inflated by the jets become highly turbulent .
The turbulent mixing of the shock-heated gas with the rest of the intracluster medium puts a quick end to this short-lived rapid-growth phase .
After dropping by almost two orders of magnitudes , the black hole accretion rate stabilises at \sim 0.006 M _ { \odot } { yr } ^ { -1 } , without significant variations for several billions of years , indicating that a self-regulated steady-state has been reached .
This accretion rate corresponds to a negligible increase of the black hole mass over the age of the Universe , but is sufficient to create a quasi-equilibrium state in the cluster core .