The radial acceleration relation and its emergent nature

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent findings on the Radial Acceleration Relation (RAR), analyzing whether it is a fundamental law or an emergent phenomenon, and presents evidence against the RAR being a fundamental law at high statistical significance.

Contribution

It provides a Bayesian analysis that refutes the hypothesis of RAR being a fundamental law, challenging modified gravity theories like MOND.

Findings

Refutes RAR as a fundamental law at over 5σ significance

Supports the interpretation of RAR as an emergent phenomenon

Uses refined Bayesian methods for analysis

Abstract

We review some of our recent results about the Radial Acceleration Relation (RAR) and its interpretation as either a fundamental or an emergent law. The former interpretation is in agreement with a class of modified gravity theories that dismiss the need for dark matter in galaxies (MOND in particular). Our most recent analysis, which includes refinements on the priors and the Bayesian test for compatibility between the posteriors, confirms that the hypothesis of a fundamental RAR is rejected at more than 5$\sigma$ from the very same data that was used to infer the RAR.