Nature of the missing mass of galaxy clusters in MOND: The view from gravitational lensing

Modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) has long been known to fail in galaxy clusters, implying a residual missing mass problem for clusters in this context. Here, using mass profiles derived from strong- and weak-lensing shear, as well as magnification data, for a sample of clusters from the CLASH survey, we characterize the density profile of this residual MOND missing mass in the central megaparsec of galaxy clusters. In line with results obtained in the literature from the hydrostatic equilibrium of hot gas, we find that an inner constant density core and an outer power-law slope sharper than −3.5 provide a good description within ∼1  Mpc. We also show that the data in the central parts of clusters can be even better represented by a “dark-mass-follows-gas” profile with an exponential cutoff. Clusters in the sample display a remarkable uniformity for the missing-to-hot-gas density ratio in the inner parts, of order ∼10, as well as for the exponential cutoff radius, of order ∼400  kpc. These lensing results can in principle serve as a crucible for relativistic theories of MOND in galaxy clusters or for any other tentative hypothesis regarding the nature of the clusters residual missing mass in the MOND context.