Phd in Physics

Dark matter tensions on the scale of galaxies

Dark matter tensions on the scale of galaxies

Academic year 2021/2022

Sommario del corso

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Program

In the first part of the course, we illustrate some kinematic properties of disk and dwarf galaxies, including the acceleration scale, the baryonic Tully-Fisher relation, and the galaxy disk stability, that hardly fit within the currently standard Cold Dark Matter model. Over the years, a number of ad hoc modifications to this model have been proposed to solve some of these tensions.

In the second part of the course, we show that, in epistemology, this approach is called degenerating problemshift. This condition might prelude to a substantial scientific revolution. In fact, most of these tensions are actually novel predictions in a different theory proposed in 1983, called Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). The observed kinematic properties were indeed predicted by this model years in advance of their discovery, as expected in a sound progressive theory.

David Merritt, A Philosophical Approach to MOND, Cambridge University Press

Robert H. Sanders, The Dark matter Problem: A Historical Perspective, Cambridge University Press

Note

The students who wish to attend the course are invited to register by using the register flag below at their earliest convenience.

The language of the course can be English on request.

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