2005/01/14 by H. Baumgardt, E. K. Grebel, P. Kroupa · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark matter #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Globular cluster #Gravitation #Halo #Milky Way #Modified Newtonian dynamics #Newtonian dynamics #Velocity dispersion #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1745-3933.2005.00021.x
5 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in MNRAS
arxiv created 2005/01/14 · openalex publication_date 2005/04/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Abstract We propose to determine the stellar velocity dispersions of globular clusters in the outer halo of the Milky Way in order to decide whether the dynamics of the Universe on large scales is governed by dark matter or modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND). We show that, for a number of Galactic globular clusters, both the internal and the external accelerations are significantly below the critical acceleration parameter a0 of MOND. This leads to velocity dispersions in the case of MOND which exceed their Newtonian counterparts by up to a factor of 3, providing a stringent test for MOND. Alternatively, in cases where high velocity dispersions are found, these would provide the first evidence that globular clusters are dark matter dominated.