N ≥ 2 particles in the framework of TeVeS

Abstract

About 40 years ago, since no viable candidate for “dark matter” was discovered, M. Milgrom and J.Bekenstein introduced a non-covariant modification of gravitational theory (MOND) to account for the anomalous rotation curves of galaxies. Bekenstein and Sanders then developed a relativistically covariant form of the theory, called TeVeS, involving scalar and tensor fields, which accounts well for the rotation curves as well for the observed lensing of background radiation around galaxies without the introduction of “dark matter”. The dynamical behavior of a particle in such a gravitational theory has been recently discussed by Horwitz, Gershon and Schiffer. In this paper we study the dynamics of the N ≥ 2 particle problem in the framework of the TeVeS theory.