The properties of the X-ray holes in the intracluster medium of the Perseus cluster

High-resolution X-ray and low-frequency radio imaging now allow us to examine in detail the interaction and physical properties of the radio source 3C 84 and the surrounding thermal gas. The radiative and dynamical properties of the inner X-ray holes, which coincide with the radio lobes, indicate that the ratio of the energy factor k to the filling factor f is in the range 180 < k/f < 500. We define k to be the ratio of the total particle energy to that of the electrons radiating above a fiducial frequency of 10 MHz. The relativistic plasma and magnetic field are not in equipartition, since the field must be a factor of 4 or more lower than required for pressure balance. Unexpected steep-spectrum spurs in the low-frequency radio maps point to outer X-ray holes, which are plausibly buoyant old radio lobes. The evidence that the inner lobes are currently expanding subsonically, yet have not detached due to buoyancy, and the requirement that the synchrotron cooling time must exceed the age of the hole enable us to constrain the jet power of the nucleus to between 10(44) and 10(45) erg s(-1), depending on the filling factor of the relativistic plasma.