Galaxy rotation curve in hyperconical universes: a natural relativistic MOND

Abstract

Abstract Modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) and similar proposals can (at least partially) explain the excess rotation of galaxies or the equivalent mass-discrepancy acceleration, without (or by reducing) the requirement of dark matter halos. This paper develops a modified gravity model to obtain local limit to the general relativity (GR) compatible with a cosmological metric different to the standard Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric. Specifically, the paper uses a distorted stereographic projection of hyperconical universes, which are 4D hypersurfaces embedded into 5D Minkowski spacetime. This embedding is a key in the MOND effects found in galactic scales. To adequately describe the mass-discrepancy acceleration relation, centrifugal force would present a small time-like contribution at large-scale dynamics due to curvature of the Universe. Therefore, the Lagrangian density is very similar to the GR but with subtracting the background curvature (or vacuum energy density) of the perturbed hyperconical metric. Results showed that the proposed model adjusts well to 123 galaxy rotation curves obtained from the Spitzer Photometry and Accurate Rotation Curves database, using only a free parameter.