General Relativistic Galaxy Rotation Curves: Implications for Dark Matter Distribution

We consider the consequences of applying general relativity to the description of the dynamics of a galaxy, given the observed flattened rotation curves. The galaxy is modeled as a stationary axially symmetric pressure-free fluid. In spite of the weak gravitational field and the non-relativistic source velocities, the mathematical system is still seen to be non-linear. It is shown that the rotation curves for various galaxies as examples are consistent with the mass density d...

Spiral galaxies are considered as static, spherically symmetric Dark Matter Configurations (DMC)in which non-zero rest-mass particles (NZRPs) move along appropriate trajectories. Using general relativity (GR), we show that a mass of dark matter about 127 - 212 $\times 10^{11} M_{\odot}$ is required inside the sphere of size $a \sim 10 $ kpc for agreement with the observed typical orbital velocity ranging from 150 to 250 km sec$^{-1}$. In our model, it is possible to obtain fl...

Based on an exact solution of the Einstein field equations, it is proposed in this note that the dark-matter hypothesis could have led to the prediction of flat galactic rotation curves long before the discovery thereof by assuming that on large scales the matter in the Universe, including dark matter, is a perfect fluid.

After explaining the motivation for this article, I briefly recapitulate the methods used to determine, somewhat coarsely, the rotation curves of our Milky Way Galaxy and other spiral galaxies, especially in their outer parts, and the results of applying these methods. Recent observations and models of the very inner central parts of galaxian rotation curves are only briefly described. I then present the essential Newtonian theory of (disk) galaxy rotation curves. The next tw...

We consider the possibility of an alternative gravity theory explaining the dynamics of galactic systems without dark matter. From very general assumptions about the structure of a relativistic gravity theory we derive a general expression for the metric to order $(v/c)^2$. This allows us to compare the predictions of the theory with various experimental data: the Newtonian limit, light deflection and retardation, rotation of galaxies and gravitational lensing. Our general co...

We discuss arguments both in favor of and against dark matter. With the repeated failure of experiment to date to detect dark matter we discuss what could be done instead, and to this end look for clues in the data themselves. We identify various regularities in galactic rotation curve data that correlate the total gravitational potential with luminous matter rather than dark matter. We identify a contribution to galactic rotation curves coming from the rest of the visible Un...

The observed flat rotation curves of galaxies require either the presence of dark matter in Newtonian gravitational potentials or a significant modification to the theory of gravity at galactic scales. Detecting relativistic Doppler shifts and gravitational effects in the rotation curves offers a tool for distinguishing between predictions of gravity theories that modify the inertia of particles and those that modify the field equations. These higher-order effects also allow ...

This work wants to show how standard General Relativity (GR) is able to explain galactic rotation curves without the need for dark matter, this starting from the idea that when Einstein's equations are applied to the dynamics of a galaxy embedded in an expanding universe they do not reduce to Poisson's equation but a generalisation of it taking cosmological expansion into account. A non-linear scheme to perturb Einstein's field equations around the Robertson-Walker (R-W) metr...

Recently, several interesting proposals were made modifying the law of gravity on large scales, within a sensible relativistic formulation. This allows a precise formulation of the idea that such a modification might account for galaxy rotation curves, instead of the usual interpretation of these curves as evidence for dark matter. We here summarize several observational constraints which any such modification must satisfy, and which we believe make more challenging any inter...

The missing of a Keplerian fall-off in the observed galaxy rotation curves represents classical evidence for the existence of dark matter on galactic scales. There has been some recent activity concerning the potential of modelling galactic systems with the help of general relativity. This was motivated by claims that by the use of full general relativity dark matter could be made superfluous. Here we focus on possible axisymmetric and stationary solutions of Einstein's equat...