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Main Authors: Sikivie, Pierre, Zhao, Yuxin
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.19421
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author Sikivie, Pierre
Zhao, Yuxin
author_facet Sikivie, Pierre
Zhao, Yuxin
contents The galaxy LEDA 1313424 has recently been discovered to have nine rings [1]. The authors of the discovery paper interpret the rings to be the result of the passing of a smaller galaxy through the center of the LEDA galaxy 56 Myr ago. We point out several difficulties with this interpretation and propose instead that the rings of LEDA are the imprint upon baryonic matter of caustic rings of dark matter. Caustic rings of dark matter, with the pattern of radii observed in the LEDA galaxy, form if the dark matter is axions. Because they move slowly (LEDA's 70 kpc ring, for example, has speed 6.6 km/s) caustic rings of dark matter are plausible sites for the star formation observed in LEDA.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_19421
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The nine rings of the galaxy LEDA 1313424
Sikivie, Pierre
Zhao, Yuxin
Astrophysics of Galaxies
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
The galaxy LEDA 1313424 has recently been discovered to have nine rings [1]. The authors of the discovery paper interpret the rings to be the result of the passing of a smaller galaxy through the center of the LEDA galaxy 56 Myr ago. We point out several difficulties with this interpretation and propose instead that the rings of LEDA are the imprint upon baryonic matter of caustic rings of dark matter. Caustic rings of dark matter, with the pattern of radii observed in the LEDA galaxy, form if the dark matter is axions. Because they move slowly (LEDA's 70 kpc ring, for example, has speed 6.6 km/s) caustic rings of dark matter are plausible sites for the star formation observed in LEDA.
title The nine rings of the galaxy LEDA 1313424
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.19421