Relativistic MOND as an alternative to the dark matter paradigm

TL;DR

This paper reviews relativistic MOND theories as alternatives to dark matter, focusing on their structure, successes, and limitations in explaining galactic phenomena without dark matter.

Contribution

It summarizes the development of relativistic MOND theories, especially T$e$V$e$S, highlighting their structure and phenomenological implications.

Findings

T$e$V$e$S successfully explains some gravitational lensing observations.

Relativistic MOND theories face challenges in cosmological modeling.

These theories offer a viable alternative to dark matter in galactic dynamics.

Abstract

Milgrom's Modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) provides an efficient way to summarize phenomenology of galaxies which does not lean on the notion of dark matter; it has great predictive power. Here I briefly review MOND as well as its implementation as a nonrelativistic modified gravity theory, AQUAL. Gravitational lensing and cosmology call for a relativistic gravity theory different from general relativity if dark matter is to be avoided. In recent years such a theory, T$e$V$e$S, has emerged from the marriage of AQUAL with the timelike vector field of Sanders. I discuss its structure and some of its successes and shortcomings.