Mordehai Milgrom proposed modified Newtonian dynamics as an alternative explanation of the discrepancy between visible mass and inferred gravitational effects in galaxies. The modification becomes important below a characteristic acceleration scale .
In the low-acceleration spherical limit, . For a circular orbit, substituting gives , independent of orbital radius. The same limiting rule therefore links a flat outer galaxy rotation curve with a relation between baryonic mass and orbital speed. These are consequences of the proposed dynamics, not a direct detection of the underlying mechanism.[ref]
A modification of the Newtonian dynamics as a possible alternative to the hidden mass hypothesis by Mordehai Milgrom. 1983 formulation: low-acceleration limit and its galactic consequences
Portrait of Mordehai Milgrom
. Weizmann Institute of Science; Commons permission record VRT 2010112110015191. Public-domain release by Weizmann Institute of Science, worldwide, via Wikimedia Commons. Source.
