MOND as a Transformation Between Non-inertial Reference Frames Via Sciama’s Interpretation of Mach’s Principle

Abstract

Milgrom’s Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) correction to Newtonian gravity is shown to be equivalent to a more fundamental transformation between a non-inertial local reference frame and the fixed background of the observable universe, complying with Mach’s principle. Both Newton’s gravitational constant and Milgrom’s MOND acceleration parameter or scale constant are substituted for the speed of light and two varying and measurable cosmological parameters under the justification of Schrödinger’s and Sciama’s interpretation of Mach’s principle: causally connected mass and size of the universe. This Machian interpretation, free from fundamental constants and parameters with the exception of the speed of light as the speed of gravity, is based on relative field intensities of the small and large scale of the universe. The Machian MOND approximation is a necessary feature of a phenomenological theory of modified inertia which incorporates Mach’s principle in agreement with galaxy rotation curves.