1993/07/02 by Philip D. Mannheim, Mannheim, Philip D.
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #astro-ph #gr-qc #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9307003
UCONN-92-3, 14 pages (plus 1 figure - send requests to [email protected]), in plain TeX. (This is an updated version of original paper "Linear Potentials and Galactic Rotation Curves" which now provides fits to a representative of each of the four different classes of spiral galactic rotation curves. To appear in the Astrophysical Journal)
We present a simple, closed form expression for the potential of an axisymmetric disk of stars interacting through gravitational potentials of the form V(r)=-β/r+γr/2, the potential associated with fundamental sources in the conformal invariant fourth order theory of gravity which has recently been advanced by Mannheim and Kazanas as a candidate alternative to the standard second order Einstein theory. Using the model we obtain a reasonable fit to some representative galactic rotation curve data without the need for any non-luminous or dark matter. Our study suggests that the observed flatness of rotation curves might only be an intermediate phenomenon rather than an asymptotic one.