On the fundamentality of the radial acceleration relation for late-type galaxy dynamics

Abstract

ABSTRACT Galaxies have been observed to exhibit a level of simplicity unexpected in the complex galaxy formation scenario posited by standard cosmology. This is particularly apparent in their dynamics, where scaling relations display much regularity and little intrinsic scatter. However, the parameters responsible for this simplicity have not been identified. Using the Spitzer Photometry & Accurate Rotation Curves galaxy catalogue, we argue that the radial acceleration relation (RAR) between galaxies’ baryonic and total dynamical accelerations is the fundamental 1D correlation governing the radial (in-disc) dynamics of late-type galaxies. In particular, we show that the RAR cannot be tightened by the inclusion of any other available galaxy property, that it is the strongest projection of galaxies’ radial dynamical parameter space, and that all other statistical radial dynamical correlations stem from the RAR plus the non-dynamical correlations present in our sample. We further provide evidence that the RAR’s fundamentality is unique in that the second most significant dynamical relation does not possess any of these features. Our analysis reveals the root cause of the correlations present in galaxies’ radial dynamics: they are nothing but facets of the RAR. These results have important ramifications for galaxy formation theory because they imply that to explain statistically late-type galaxy dynamics within the disc it is necessary and sufficient to explain the RAR and lack of any significant, partially independent correlation. While simple in some modified dynamics models, this poses a challenge to standard cosmology.