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A hypothesis to explain the virial discrepancy in clusters of galaxies

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Abstract

On the basis of numerical experiments onn-body binding energies we tentatively consider the following hypothesis: If the distance between two galaxies forming a binary system isa g, and a cluster of galaxies that is substructured in a hierarchical fashion onall scales froma g upwards has a total massM, then the total gravitational binding energy of the cluster isΩ TH = −GM 2/2a g . As an explanation for ‘missing’ masses up to order 100 we test this hypothesis in three different ways, finding remarkable agreement with observation, with no need for physical missing mass.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Physics, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

    P. S. Wesson

  2. Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University, England

    P. S. Wesson

  3. F. Mat. Fysikk, University of Oslo, Blindern, Norway

    Aksel Lermann

Authors
  1. P. S. Wesson
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  2. Aksel Lermann
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Wesson, P.S., Lermann, A. A hypothesis to explain the virial discrepancy in clusters of galaxies. Astrophys Space Sci 46, 335–339 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00644381

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00644381

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