General relativistic dynamics applied to the rotation curves of galaxies

Abstract

We extend our general relativistic analysis of galactic rotation curves (see Cooperstock and Tieu in Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 22:2293, 2007) with galaxies NGC 2841, NGC 2903 and NGC 5033. As before, we employ the solution of the Einstein field equations of general relativity with an expansion in Bessel functions. As in our earlier studies, the fits to the data are found to be very precise and the calculated baryonic masses are lower than those based upon Newtonian gravity. Also as in our previous studies, the galactic radii at which the optical luminosities terminate are seen to correlate with densities near 10^−21.75 kg m⁻³. This concordance lends further support to the correctness of the procedure as well as providing a potentially valuable piece of information in the understanding of galactic evolution.