English

MOND fiducial specific angular momentum of disc galaxies

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2021-09-15 v3 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Abstract

It is pointed out that MOND defines a fiducial specific angular momentum (SAM) for a galaxy of total (baryonic) mass M\mathcal{M}: jM(M)M3/4(G3/a0)1/4383(M/1010M)3/4kpc km/sj_M(\mathcal{M})\equiv\mathcal{M}^{3/4}(G^3/a_0)^{1/4}\approx 383(\mathcal{M}/10^{10}M_\odot)^{3/4}{\rm kpc~km/s}. It plays important roles in disc-galaxy dynamics and evolution: It underlies scaling relations in virialized galaxies that involve their angular-momentum. I show that the disc SAM should be jD[r/rM(M)]jM(M)=[ΣM/Σ]1/2jM(M)j_D\approx[\langle r\rangle/r_M(\mathcal{M})]j_M(\mathcal{M})=[\Sigma_M/\langle \Sigma\rangle]^{1/2}j_M(\mathcal{M}), with r\langle r\rangle the mean radius of the disc, Σ=M/2πr2\langle \Sigma\rangle=\mathcal{M}/2\pi\langle r\rangle^2 some mean surface density of the galaxy, rM=(MG/a0)1/2r_M=(\mathcal{M} G/a_0)^{1/2} is the MOND radius of the galaxy, and ΣM=a0/2πG\Sigma_M=a_0/2\pi G is the (universal) MOND surface density. So, e.g., for a fixed Σ\langle \Sigma\rangle, jDM3/4j_D\propto \mathcal{M}^{3/4}, while for a fixed r\langle r\rangle, jDM1/4j_D\propto \mathcal{M}^{1/4}. Furthermore, jM(M)j_M(\mathcal{M}) is a reference predictor of the type of galaxy a protogalaxy will settle into, if it evolves in isolation: A protogalaxy of mass M\mathcal{M}, and SAM jjM(M)j\gg j_M(\mathcal{M}) should settle into a low-surface-density disc -- with mean acceleration a/a0jM/j1\langle a\rangle/a_0\approx j_M/j\ll 1. While a protogalaxy with jjM(M)j\lesssim j_M(\mathcal{M}) should end up with a disc of mass MDjM/jM(M)\mathcal{M}_D\approx j\mathcal{M}/j_M(\mathcal{M}), having a SAM jDjM(M)j_D\approx j_M(\mathcal{M}), which is tantamount to aa0\langle a\rangle\approx a_0 (i.e., at the `Freeman limit'); it should also develop a low-SAM bulge, taking up the rest of the mass MBMMD\mathcal{M}_B\approx\mathcal{M}-\mathcal{M}_D.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2107.03691,
  title  = {MOND fiducial specific angular momentum of disc galaxies},
  author = {Mordehai Milgrom},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2107.03691},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

6 pages, 2 figure. Added a detailed discussion of the recent analysis of j-M correlations in Ref. 25, which lends itself to a much clearer comparison with the predictions of MOND. Version to appear in Phys. Rev. D