The "Graviton Picture": a Bohr Model for Gravitation on Galactic Scales?

Abstract

Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) provides a successful description of stellar and galactic dynamics on almost all astronomical scales. A key feature of MOND is the transition function from Newtonian to modified dynamics which corresponds to the empirical mass discrepancy--acceleration (MDA) relation. However, the functional form of the MDA relation does not follow from theory in a straightforward manner; in general, empirical MDA relations are inserted ad hoc into analyses of stellar dynamics. I revisit the possibility of gravity being mediated by massive virtual particles, gravitons. Under certain reasonable assumptions, the resulting "graviton picture" implies a MDA relation that is equivalent to the - empirical - "simple mu" function of MOND which is in very good agreement with observations. I conclude that the "graviton picture" offers a simple description of gravitation on galactic scales, potentially playing a role for gravitation analogous to the role played by Bohr's model for atomic physics.

arXiv comment5 pages, 1 figures; to appear in Can. J. Phys., invited paper for special issue on MOND (received 28 March 2014; accepted 5 May 2014)

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Cited by in corpus (1)

• Milgrom's Law and Lambda's Shadow: How Massive Gravity Connects Galactic and Cosmic Dynamics