  The importance of the radiative feedback from massive black holes at the
centers of elliptical galaxies is not in doubt, given the well established
relations among electromagnetic output, black hole mass and galaxy optical
luminosity. We show how this AGN radiative output affects the hot ISM of an
isolated elliptical galaxy with the aid of a high-resolution hydrodynamical
code, where the cooling and heating functions include photoionization plus
Compton heating. We find that radiative heating is a key factor in the
self-regulated coevolution of massive black holes and their host galaxies and
that 1) the mass accumulated by the central black hole is limited by feedback
to the range observed today, and 2) relaxation instabilities occur so that duty
cycles are small enough (~0.03) to account for the very small fraction of
massive ellipticals observed to be in the "on" -QSO- phase, when the accretion
luminosity approaches the Eddington luminosity. The duty cycle of the hot
bubbles inflated at the galaxy center during major accretion episodes is of the
order of 0.1-0.4. Major accretion episodes caused by cooling flows in the
recycled gas produced by normal stellar evolution trigger nuclear starbursts
coincident with AGN flaring. During such episodes the central sources are often
obscured; but overall, in the bursting phase (1<z<3), the duty cycle of the
black hole in its "on" phase is of the order of percents and it is unobscured
approximately one-third of the time. Mechanical energy output from
non-relativistic gas winds integrates to 2.3 10^{59} erg, with most of it
caused by broadline AGN outflows. [abridged]
