English

Newtonian Fractional-Dimension Gravity and Rotationally Supported Galaxies

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2021-02-24 v2 Astrophysics of Galaxies

Abstract

We continue our analysis of Newtonian Fractional-Dimension Gravity, an extension of the standard laws of Newtonian gravity to lower dimensional spaces including those with fractional (i.e., non-integer) dimension. We apply our model to three rotationally supported galaxies: NGC 7814 (Bulge-Dominated Spiral), NGC 6503 (Disk-Dominated Spiral), and NGC 3741 (Gas-Dominated Dwarf). As was done in the general cases of spherically-symmetric and axially-symmetric structures, which were studied in previous work on the subject, we examine a possible connection between our model and Modified Newtonian Dynamics, a leading alternative gravity model which explains the observed properties of these galaxies without requiring the Dark Matter hypothesis. In our model, the MOND acceleration constant a01.2×1010\mboxm\mboxs2a_{0} \simeq 1.2 \times 10^{-10}\mbox{m}\thinspace \mbox{s}^{ -2} can be related to a natural scale length l0l_{0}, namely a0GM/l02a_{0} \approx GM/l_{0}^{2} for a galaxy of mass MM. Also, the empirical Radial Acceleration Relation, connecting the observed radial acceleration gobsg_{obs} with the baryonic one gbarg_{bar}, can be explained in terms of a variable local dimension DD. As an example of this methodology, we provide detailed rotation curve fits for the three galaxies mentioned above.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2011.04911,
  title  = {Newtonian Fractional-Dimension Gravity and Rotationally Supported Galaxies},
  author = {Gabriele U. Varieschi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2011.04911},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

19 pages, including 6 figures. Third paper on NFDG. Added Appendix A, references, and other minor changes and corrections. Final version to be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Oxford Academic. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2008.04737