Supervisor: Emiliano Merlin (emiliano.merlin@inaf.it)
Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) is an alternative theory of gravity that does not require Dark Matter to explain the observed properties of galaxies, in particular their rotation curves. A prediction of the theory is that the internal kinematics of galaxies should be affected by the large scale gravitational field (besides standard tidal forces), thus violating the General Relativity (RG) Strong Equivalence Principle, and this has apparently been observed in a recent study (Chae+2020). No such effect is predicted in standard GR cosmology. The candidate will analyze the outputs from hydrodynamical cosmological simulations (IllustrisTNG, Eagle and/or others) to verify that the external field effect is indeed not present (thus further highlighting a tension with observed data) or, if unexpectedly present, which physical process causes the effect thus mimicking a MOND-like behaviour in a classical framework.