An alternative to dark matter and dark energy: Scale-dependent gravity in superfluid vacuum theory

Abstract

We derive an effective gravitational potential, induced by the quantum wavefunction of a physical vacuum of a self-gravitating configuration, while the vacuum itself is viewed as the superfluid described by the logarithmic quantum wave equation. We determine that gravity has a multiple-scale pattern, to such an extent that one can distinguish sub-Newtonian, Newtonian, galactic, extragalactic and cosmological terms. The last of these dominates at the largest length scale of the model, where superfluid vacuum induces an asymptotically Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker-type spacetime, which provides an explanation for the accelerating expansion of the Universe. The model describes different types of expansion mechanisms, which could explain the discrepancy between measurements of the Hubble constant using different methods. On a galactic scale, our model explains the non-Keplerian behaviour of galactic rotation curves, and also why their profiles can vary depending on the galaxy. It also makes a number of predictions about the behaviour of gravity at larger galactic and extragalactic scales. We demonstrate how the behaviour of rotation curves varies with distance from a gravitating center, growing from an inner galactic scale towards a metagalactic scale: a squared orbital velocity's profile crosses over from Keplerian to flat, and then to non-flat. The asymptotic non-flat regime is thus expected to be seen in the outer regions of large spiral galaxies.

17 pages, selected paper from the 17th Russian Gravitational Conference - International Conference on Gravitation, Cosmology and Astrophysics (RUSGRAV-17), Saint Petersburg, 28 June - 4 July 2020. Changes: [v2] minor stylistic corrections

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Cited by in corpus (8)

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• Superfluid stars and Q-balls in curved spacetime
• Galaxy rotation curves in superfluid vacuum theory
• Vacuum polarization instead of "dark matter" in a galaxy
• On asymptotic behaviour of galactic rotation curves in superfluid vacuum theory
• Sound propagation in cigar-shaped Bose liquids in the Thomas-Fermi approximation: A comparative study between Gross-Pitaevskii and logarithmic models
• Acoustic oscillations in cigar-shaped logarithmic Bose-Einstein condensate in the Thomas-Fermi approximation
• The K-essence flow seen from the preferred frame $S_V$. A scalar field theory with Landau superfluid structure