Flat Galactic Rotation Curves from Geometry in Weyl Gravity

TL;DR

This paper explores whether the flat rotation curves of galaxies can be explained by Weyl gravity's geometry, suggesting a scale symmetry approach as an alternative to dark matter.

Contribution

It demonstrates that Weyl gravity's geometry can account for galactic rotation curves without dark matter, highlighting a scale symmetry in the outer regions of galaxies.

Findings

Outer galaxy regions are described by Weyl gravity.

Inner galaxy regions are described by Einstein-Hilbert gravity.

Scale independence of rotational velocity suggests local scale symmetry.

Abstract

We searched for a resolution of the flat galactic rotation curve problem from geometry instead of assuming the existence of dark matter. We observed that the scale independence of the rotational velocity in the outer region of galaxies could point out to a possible existence of local scale symmetry and therefore the gravitational phenomena inside such regions should be described by the unique local scale symmetric theory, namely Weyl's theory of gravity. We solved field equations of Weyl gravity and determined the special geometry in the outer region of galaxies. In order to understand the effective description of gravitational phenomena, we compared individual terms of so called Einstein-Weyl theory and concluded that while the outer region of galaxies are described by the Weyl term, the inner region of galaxies are described by the Einstein-Hilbert term.