Related papers: Inside MOND: Testing Gravity with Stellar Accelera…
A wealth of recent observational studies shows the dark matter in the Milky Way to have the following fundamental properties: 1) there is no detectable dark matter associated with the Galactic disk -- the dark matter is distributed in a…
We use a series of high-resolution simulations of a `Milky-Way' halo coupled to semi-analytic methods to study the formation of our own Galaxy and of its stellar halo. The physical properties of our model Milky Way, as well as the age and…
In Milgrom's modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) framework, the dynamical mass of a galaxy is fully determined by its baryonic matter distribution. We fit the distribution of cold and hot gas halos, focusing on hot gas, around SDSS central…
I describe the MOND paradigm, which posits a departure from standard physics below a certain acceleration scale. This acceleration as deduced from the dynamics in galaxies is found mysteriously to agree with the cosmic acceleration scales…
Frankel et al (2020) reported that the rate of diffusion in angular momentum by stars in the disk of the Milky Way was about ten times faster than the rate of heating, which places a stringent requirement on the nature of disk star…
Genzel et al. have recently published the rotation curves of six high-redshift disc galaxies ($z\sim 0.9-2.4$), which they find to be `baryon dominated' within the studies radii. While not up to the standard afforded by data available for…
Redshifts of an astronomical body measured at multiple epochs (e.g., separated by 10 years) are different due to the cosmic expansion. This so-called Sandage-Loeb test offers a direct measurement of the expansion rate of the Universe.…
In the local (redshift z~0) Universe, collisional ring galaxies make up only ~0.01% of galaxies and are formed by head-on galactic collisions that trigger radially propagating density waves. These striking systems provide key snapshots for…
We study the vertical stellar distribution of the Milky Way thin disk in detail with particular focus on the outer disk. We treat the galactic disk as a gravitationally coupled, three-component system consisting of stars, atomic hydrogen…
We present a detailed study of the structural properties of four gravitationally lensed disk galaxies at z=1. Modelling the rotation curves on sub-kpc scales we derive the values for the disk mass, the reference dark matter density and core…
The statistics of high speed satellite galaxies, as reported in the recent literature, can be a powerful diagnosis of the depth of the potential well of the host halo, and hence discriminate between competing gravitational theories. Naively…
If the dark halo matter is primarily composed of MACHOs toward the lower end of the possible detection range ($ < 10^{-3}$ $M_{\odot}$) a fraction of the lens detection events should involve the lens crossing directly in front of the disk…
We have observationally quantified the effect of gravitational torques on stars in disk galaxies due to the stellar distribution itself and explored whether these torques are efficient at transporting angular momentum within a Hubble Time.…
Many astronomers have speculated that the solar system contains undiscovered massive planets or a distant stellar companion. The acceleration of the solar system barycenter can constrain the mass and position of the putative companion. In…
We test the validity of comparing simulated field disk galaxies with the empirical properties of systems situated within environments more comparable to loose groups, including the Milky Way's Local Group. Cosmological simulations of Milky…
Analysis of the peculiar velocities of galaxies should take account of the uncertainties in both redshifts and distances. We show how this can be done by a numerical application of the action principle. The method is applied to an improved…
The nature of our Milky Way Galaxy is reexamined from an eclectic point of view. Evidence for a central bar, for example, is not reflected in the distribution of RR Lyrae variables in the central bulge [4,5], and it is not clear if either a…
Galaxies follow a tight radial acceleration relation (RAR): the acceleration observed at every radius correlates with that expected from the distribution of baryons. We use the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to fit the mean RAR to 175…
Our Milky Way provides a unique test case for galaxy evolution models, thanks to our privileged position within the Milky Way's disc. This position also complicates comparisons between the Milky Way and external galaxies, due to our…
We estimate collapse rates of axion stars in our galaxy based on the axion minicluster mass function of the Milky Way dark matter halo. We consider axion-like particles with different temperature evolution of the axion mass, including the…