Incompatibility of Rotation Curves with Gravitational Lensing for TeVeS

TL;DR

This study tests the TeVeS gravity theory against galactic rotation and lensing data, finding that the simplest form cannot simultaneously fit both without dark matter, thus challenging its viability.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive test of the simplest TeVeS model against both rotation curves and gravitational lensing data at galactic scales.

Findings

TeVeS cannot fit rotation and lensing data simultaneously without dark matter.

The model's failure is independent of cosmological assumptions.

Stellar initial mass function variations do not alter the conclusions.

Abstract

We constrain the one-parameter class of TeVeS models by testing the theory against both rotation curve and strong gravitational lensing data on galactic scales, remaining fully relativistic in our formalism. The upshot of our analysis is that -- at least in its simplest original form, which is the only one studied in the literature so far -- TeVeS is ruled out, in the sense that the models cannot consistently fit simultaneously the two sets of data without including a significant dark matter component. It is also shown that the details of the underlying cosmological model are not relevant for our analysis, which pertains to galactic scales. The choice of the stellar Initial Mass Function -- which affects the estimates of baryonic mass -- is found not to change our conclusions.