A Survey of Dynamical and Gravitational Lensing Tests in Scale Invariance: The Fall of Dark Matter?

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Main Authors: Maeder, Andre, Courbin, Frederic
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Maeder, Andre
Courbin, Frederic
author_facet Maeder, Andre
Courbin, Frederic
contents We first briefly review the adventure of scale invariance in physics, from Galileo Galilei, Weyl, Einstein, and Feynman to the revival by Dirac (1973) and Canuto et al. (1977). We then gather concrete observational evidence that scale-invariant effects are present and measurable in astronomical objects spanning a vast range of masses (0.5 M$_{\odot} <$ M $< 10^{14}$ M$_{\odot}$) and an equally impressive range of spatial scales (0.01 pc $<$ r $<$ 1 Gpc). Scale invariance accounts for the observed excess in velocity in galaxy clusters with respect to the visible mass, the relatively flat/small slope of rotation curves in local galaxies, the observed steep rotation curves of high-redshift galaxies, and the excess of velocity in wide binary stars with separations above 3000 kau found in Gaia DR3. Last but not least, we investigate the effect of scale invariance on gravitational lensing. We show that scale invariance does not affect the geodesics of light rays as they pass in the vicinity of a massive galaxy. However, scale-invariant effects do change the inferred mass-to-light ratio of lens galaxies as compared to GR. As a result, the discrepancies seen in GR between the total lensing mass of galaxies and their stellar mass from photometry may be accounted for. This holds true both for lenses at high redshift like JWST-ER1 and at low redshift like in the SLACS sample. Of note is that none of the above observational tests require dark matter or any adjustable parameter to tweak the theory at any given mass or spatial scale.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2410_21379
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Survey of Dynamical and Gravitational Lensing Tests in Scale Invariance: The Fall of Dark Matter?
Maeder, Andre
Courbin, Frederic
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
We first briefly review the adventure of scale invariance in physics, from Galileo Galilei, Weyl, Einstein, and Feynman to the revival by Dirac (1973) and Canuto et al. (1977). We then gather concrete observational evidence that scale-invariant effects are present and measurable in astronomical objects spanning a vast range of masses (0.5 M$_{\odot} <$ M $< 10^{14}$ M$_{\odot}$) and an equally impressive range of spatial scales (0.01 pc $<$ r $<$ 1 Gpc). Scale invariance accounts for the observed excess in velocity in galaxy clusters with respect to the visible mass, the relatively flat/small slope of rotation curves in local galaxies, the observed steep rotation curves of high-redshift galaxies, and the excess of velocity in wide binary stars with separations above 3000 kau found in Gaia DR3. Last but not least, we investigate the effect of scale invariance on gravitational lensing. We show that scale invariance does not affect the geodesics of light rays as they pass in the vicinity of a massive galaxy. However, scale-invariant effects do change the inferred mass-to-light ratio of lens galaxies as compared to GR. As a result, the discrepancies seen in GR between the total lensing mass of galaxies and their stellar mass from photometry may be accounted for. This holds true both for lenses at high redshift like JWST-ER1 and at low redshift like in the SLACS sample. Of note is that none of the above observational tests require dark matter or any adjustable parameter to tweak the theory at any given mass or spatial scale.
title A Survey of Dynamical and Gravitational Lensing Tests in Scale Invariance: The Fall of Dark Matter?
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.21379