Published September 15, 2009 | Version v1
Journal article

Galaxy satellites and the weak equivalence principle

  • 1. Joseph Henry Laboratories, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544 (United States)
  • 2. Physics Department and the Asher Space Research Institute, Technion, Haifa 32000 (Israel)
  • 3. Physics department, Technion, Haifa 32000 (Israel)

Description

Numerical simulations of the effect of a long-range scalar interaction (LRSI) acting only on nonbaryonic dark matter, with strength comparable to gravity, show patterns of disruption of satellites that can agree with what is seen in the Milky Way. This includes the symmetric Sagittarius (Sgr) stellar stream. The exception presented here to the Kesden and Kamionkowski demonstration that an LRSI tends to produce distinctly asymmetric streams follows if the LRSI is strong enough to separate the stars from the dark matter before tidal disruption of the stellar component, and if stars dominate the mass in the luminous part of the satellite. It requires that the Sgr galaxy now contains little dark matter, which may be consistent with the Sgr stellar velocity dispersion, for in the simulation the dispersion at pericenter exceeds virial. We present other examples of simulations in which a strong LRSI produces satellites with large mass-to-light ratio, as in Draco, or free streams of stars, which might be compared to 'orphan' streams.

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physical Review. D, Particles Fields
Journal Volume
80
Journal Issue
6
Journal Page Range
p. 063517-063517.14
ISSN
0556-2821
CODEN
PRVDAQ

INIS

Optional Information

Notes
(c) 2009 The American Physical Society