Phenomenology of MOND and gravitational polarization

Abstract

The phenomenology of MOND (flat rotation curves of galaxies, baryonic Tully-Fisher relation, etc.) is a basic set of phenomena relevant to galaxy dynamics and dark matter distribution at galaxy scales. Still unexplained today, it enjoys a remarkable property, known as the dielectric analogy, which could have far-reaching implications. In the present paper we discuss this analogy in the framework of simple non-relativistic models. We show how a specific form of dark matter, made of two different species of particles coupled to different Newtonian gravitational potentials, could permit to interpret in the most natural way the dielectric analogy of MOND by a mechanism of gravitational polarization.