High-redshift rotation curves and MOND

Abstract

Genzel et al. have recently published the rotation curves of six high-redshift disc galaxies ($z\sim 0.9-2.4$), which they find to be `baryon dominated' within the studies radii. While not up to the standard afforded by data available for analysis in the nearby Universe, these data are valuable in constraining cosmological evolution of either DM scenarios, or -- as I discuss here -- $z$-dependence of MOND. Indeed, these results, if taken at face value, teach us useful lessons in connection with MOND. a. The dynamical accelerations at the half-light radii, found by Genzel et al., are rather high compared with the MOND acceleration constant, as measured in the nearby Universe: $g(R_{1/2})= (3-11)a_0$. MOND then predicts fractions of `phantom matter' at $R_{1/2}$ of at most a few tens of percents, which, galaxy by galaxy, agree well with what Genzel et al. find. b. The asymptotic rotational speeds predicted by MOND from the baryonic-mass estimates of Genzel et al. are substantially lower ($0.55-0.75$) than the maximal speeds of the RCs. MOND thus predicts a substantial decline of the RCs beyond the maximum. This too is in line with what Genzel et al. find. c. Arguably, the most important lesson is that the findings of Genzel et al. cast very meaningful constraints on possible variation of $a_0$ with cosmic time. For example, they all but exclude a value of the MOND constant of $\sim 4a_0$ at $z\sim 2$, excluding, e.g., $a_0\propto (1+z)^{3/2}$.