Testing modified gravity at large distances with the HI Nearby Galaxy Survey's rotation curves

TL;DR

This study tests a quantum-inspired modified gravity theory as an alternative to dark matter by fitting galaxy rotation curves, but finds it performs poorly compared to standard dark matter models.

Contribution

It evaluates a Rindler modified Newtonian potential against observed galaxy rotation curves, providing empirical constraints on this alternative gravity model.

Findings

Rindler gravity poorly fits galaxy rotation curves compared to dark matter profiles

Rindler parameters show high variability across galaxies

The model is not a viable dark matter alternative based on current data

Abstract

Recently a new -quantum motivated- theory of gravity has been proposed that modifies the standard Newtonian potential at large distances when spherical symmetry is considered. Accordingly, Newtonian gravity is altered by adding an extra Rindler acceleration term that has to be phenomenologically determined. Here we consider a standard and a power-law generalization of the Rindler modified Newtonian potential. The new terms in the gravitational potential are hypothesized to play the role of dark matter in galaxies. Our galactic model includes the mass of the integrated gas, and stars for which we consider three stellar mass functions (Kroupa, diet-Salpeter, and free mass model). We test this idea by fitting rotation curves of seventeen low surface brightness galaxies from The HI Nearby Galaxy Survey (THINGS). We find that the Rindler parameters do not perform a suitable fit to the rotation curves in comparison to standard dark matter profiles (Navarro-Frenk-White and Burkert) and, in addition, the computed parameters of the Rindler gravity show a high spread, posing the model as a nonacceptable alternative to dark matter.