Plasticity of spacetime as an alternative to dark matter

Abstract

We propose an alternative to the dark matter hypothesis that would explain why the effects of a curvature of spacetime are measured in regions where no electromagnetic radiation is observed. The problem could be solved, assuming a plasticity of spacetime that, in some conditions, can allow a region to remain locally curved even when the mass density has gone away from that region. This way we can observe curvature also in the absence of a local mass density. We apply this idea in a very simple way to the rotation curve of Milky Way showing an agreement between the prediction of the theory and the experimental data. We propose also a different scenario that gives as a result a flat rotation curve. At this stage, our approach is just an idea, not an already complete theory, so many problems remain still unsolved.