Quantum vacuum as the cause of the phenomena usually attributed to dark matter

We show that if quantum vacuum fluctuations are virtual gravitational dipoles, then the phenomena usually attributed to hypothetical dark matter, may be considered as a consequence of the gravitational polarization of the quantum vacuum by the immersed baryonic matter; apparently, at least mathematically, the galactic halo of dark matter can be replaced by the halo of the polarized quantum vacuum. The eventual gravitational effects of the quantum vacuum ”enriched” with virtual gravitational dipoles, can be revealed by the study of orbits of tiny satellites in trans-Neptunian binaries (for instance UX 25 and Eris-Dysnomia). According to the Standard Model of Particles and Fields everything is made from quarks and leptons interacting through the exchange of gauge bosons. So far, the Standard Model is the most successful and the best tested theory of all time; together with General Relativity (our best theory of gravitation) it is one of the two cornerstones of our fundamental knowledge. One of the greatest mysteries in contemporary physics is that in galaxies and clusters of galaxies, the gravitational field is much stronger than it should be according to our theory of gravitation and the existing amount of the Standard Model matter (note that astrophysicists use ”baryonic matter” as a synonym for the Standard Model matter). There are two schools of thinking related to this mystery. According to the first school, our theory of gravitation is correct, but the content of the Universe proposed by the Standard Model is highly incomplete; additional sources of gravitational field are halos of hypothetical dark matter in which galaxies are immersed. For the second school the content of the Universe proposed by the Standard Model is correct but our theory of gravity must be modified. In fact, both schools have in common the incorrect assumption that the matter of the Universe exists in the classical, non-quantum vacuum; hence, quantum vacuum [1] is neglected as the content of galaxies and clusters of galaxies (but also as the content of our Solar System). If quantum vacuum is the source of the gravitational field, any theory that neglects the existence of the quantum vacuum is blind to some crucial gravitational phenomena, and, as a compensation for the lost phenomena, must invoke some artificial mechanisms. The inevitable question is if dark matter and dark energy are such ”artificial stuff” which only mimics the phenomena which are in fact caused by the quantum vacuum. We point out (and it may be the emergence of a third school of thinking) that, if we adopt the working hypothesis that, by their nature, quantum vacuum fluctuations are virtual gravitational dipoles, the phenomena usually attributed to hypothetical dark matter, may be considered as a consequence of the gravitational polarization of the quantum vacuum [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] by the immersed baryonic matter within it. An analogous result for dark energy is presented in a separate paper in these proceedings. Let us note that the simplest and the most elegant realization of this hypothesis is, if particles and antiparticles have the gravitational charge of the opposite sign; of course nature may surprise us with a different realization of the gravitational dipoles-like behavior of the quantum vacuum. It is illuminating to remember that in quantum electrodynamics quantum vacuum behaves [1] as a fluid of virtual electric dipoles. For instance, quantum vacuum, as ”ocean” of virtual electric dipoles 28th Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics Geneva, Switzerland – December 13-18, 2015