Multi-scale feedback and feeding in the closest radio galaxy Centaurus A
  Supermassive black holes and supernovae explosions at the centres of active
galaxies power cycles of outflowing and inflowing gas that affect galactic
evolution and the overall structure of the Universe. While simulations and
observations show that this must be the case, the range of physical scales
(over ten orders of magnitude) and paucity of available tracers, make both the
simulation and observation of these effects difficult. By serendipity, there
lies an active galaxy, Centaurus A (NGC 5128), at such a close proximity as to
allow its observation over this entire range of scales and across the entire
electromagnetic spectrum. In the radio band, however, details on scales of
10-100 kpc from the supermassive black hole have so far been obscured by
instrumental limitations. Here we report low-frequency radio observations that
overcome these limitations and show evidence for a broad, bipolar outflow with
velocity 1100 km per s and mass outflow rate of 2.9 solar masses per year on
these scales. We combine our data with the plethora of multi-scale,
multi-wavelength historical observations of Centaurus A to probe a unified view
of feeding and feedback, which we show to be consistent with the Chaotic Cold
Accretion self-regulation scenario.
