Bibcode
Scarpa, R.; Marconi, G.; Gilmozzi, R.
Referencia bibliográfica
New Horizons in Globular Cluster Astronomy, ASP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 296, held 24-28 June 2002 at Dipartimento di Astronomia, Universita' di Padova, Padova, Italy. Edited by Giampaolo Piotto, Georges Meylan, S. George Djorgovski and Marco Riello. ISBN: 1-58381-143-5, 2003, p.151
Fecha de publicación:
0
2003
Número de citas
3
Número de citas referidas
1
Descripción
A pilot experiment suitable to test Newton's law of gravity down to the
regime of acceleration typical of galaxies has been carried out in Omega
Centauri. Stars in the extreme periphery of this globular cluster are
used as test particles immersed in such weak gravitational field. The
stellar velocity dispersion is found to remain constant at large radii,
rather than decrease monotonically, starting at acceleration a=10e-7
cm/s2. This is comparable to the acceleration at which the effect of
dark matter becomes relevant in galaxies. Explanations for this result
within Newtonian dynamics exist (e.g. cluster evaporation, tidal
effects, presence of dark matter) but require fine tuning of the
relevant parameters in order to make the dispersion profile flat. An
interesting alternative is that this result, together with a similar one
for Palomar 13 and the anomalous behavior of spacecrafts outside the
solar system, suggests a breakdown of Newton's law in the weak
acceleration regime.