Relativistic rotation curve for cosmological structures

Abstract

Using a general relativistic exact model for spherical structures in a cosmological background, we have put forward an algorithm to calculate the test particle geodesics within such cosmological structures in order to obtain the velocity profile of stars or galaxies. The rotation curve thus obtained is based on a density profile and is independent of any mass definition which is not unique in general relativity. It is then shown that this general relativistic rotation curves for a toy model and a NFW density profile are almost identical to the corresponding Newtonian one, although the general relativistic masses may be quite different.