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Probing the dark sector using the Fornax satellite

E. Zamlung* and A. Nusser†

  • *Contact author: eyalzamlung@campus.technion.ac.il
  • †Contact author: adi@physics.technion.ac.il
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Phys. Rev. D 113, 023511 – Published 9 January, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/tqzj-28gz

Abstract

A long-range force acting only in the dark sector can displace the stellar component of satellite galaxies relative to their dark matter (DM) halos, thereby breaking the weak equivalence principle (WEP) between DM and baryons. We investigate observational signatures of such WEP breaking using N-body simulations of a Fornax-like Milky Way (MW) satellite, implementing a fifth force between DM particles of amplitude β relative to Newtonian gravity (with a screening length much larger than the MW halo size). We find that β≳0.6 strips and unbinds the bulk of the stellar component, leaving at most a negligible bound remnant that fails to match the observed stellar content, surface-brightness, and line-of-sight velocity-dispersion profiles of Fornax. By contrast, β≲0.2 yields only mild stellar stripping and remains broadly consistent with current photometric and kinematic constraints within our modeling assumptions.

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Phys. Rev. D 113, 023511– Published 9 January, 2026
  • Received 3 September 2025
  • Accepted 8 December 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

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