Related papers: The Acceleration Scale, Modified Newtonian Dynamic…
Understanding the observations of dynamical tracers and the trajectories of lensed photons at galactic scales within the context of General Relativity (GR), requires the introduction of a hypothetical dark matter dominant component. The…
ecent observations of type Ia supernovae indicate that the Universe is in an accelerating phase of expansion. The fundamental quest in theoretical cosmology is to identify the origin of this phenomenon. In principle there are two…
The dark matter (DM) haloes around spiral galaxies appear to conspire with their baryonic content: empirically, significant amounts of DM are inferred only below a universal characteristic acceleration scale. Moreover, the discrepancy…
Several rare coincidences of scales in standard particle physics are needed to explain (i) why neutrinos have mass, (ii) why the negative pressure of the cosmological dark energy (DE) coincides with the positive pressure of random motion of…
We introduce a new proposal for the onset of cosmic acceleration based on mass-varying neutrinos. When massive neutrinos become nonrelativistic, the $Z_2$ symmetry breaks, and the quintessence potential becomes positive from its initially…
The hypothesis of the scale invariance of the macroscopic empty space, which intervenes through the cosmological constant, has led to new cosmological models. They show an accelerated cosmic expansion and satisfy several major cosmological…
We look for observational signatures that could discriminate between Newtonian and modified Newtonian (MOND) dynamics in the Milky Way, in view of the advent of large astrometric and spectroscopic surveys. Indeed, a typical signature of…
Analyses of internal galaxy and cluster dynamics typically employ Newton's law of gravity, which neglects the field self-interaction effects of General Relativity. This may be why dark matter seems necessary. The Universe evolution, on the…
The works in this portfolio test the hypothesis that it is not possible to extrapolate the Newtonian inverse square law of gravity from Solar System to galaxy scales. In particular, I look into various tests of Modified Newtonian Dynamics…
A scalar-tensor theory of gravity is formulated in which $G$ and particle masses are allowed to vary. The theory yields a globally static cosmological model with no evolutionary timescales, no cosmological coincidences, and no flatness and…
We investigate particle laws of motion derived from nonstandard kinetic actions of a special form. We are guided by a phenomenological scheme--the modified dynamics (MOND)--that imputes the mass discrepancy observed in galactic systems to a…
We discuss the existence of an acceleration scale in galaxies and galaxy clusters. The presence of the same acceleration scale found at very different scales and in very different astrophysical objects strongly supports the existence of a…
We examine the implications of Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) on the large scale structure in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe. We employ a ``Jeans swindle'' to write a MOND-type relationship between the fluctuations in the density…
If general relativity (GR) describes the expansion of the Universe, the observed cosmic acceleration implies the existence of a `dark energy'. However, while the Universe is on average homogeneous on large scales, it is inhomogeneous on…
Galaxy velocities in clusters, rotation curves of galaxies, and "vertical" oscillations in the Milky Way currently show too high velocities with respect to the masses thought to be involved. While these velocity excesses are currently…
It was recently proposed that the effects usually attributed to particle dark matter on galaxy scales are due to the displacement of dark energy by baryonic matter, a paradigm known as emergent gravity. This formalism leads to predictions…
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…
It is shown that the cosmological constant links the roots both of General Relativity and Newtonian gravity via the general function satisfying Newton's theorem according to which the gravitating sphere acts as a point mass situated in its…
There are many hot discussions in the literature about two competing paradigms in galactic and extra-galactic astronomy and cosmology, namely the Dark Matter and the Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). It is very difficult to challenge MOND…
We show that Newton's gravitational potential, augmented by a logarithmic term, partly or wholly mitigates the need for dark matter. As a bonus, it also explains why MOND seems to work at galactic scales. We speculate on the origin of such…