Constraining f(R) gravity with PLANCK data on galaxy cluster profiles

Understand

Models of $f(R)$ gravity that introduce corrections to the Newtonian potential in the weak field limit are tested at the scale of galaxy clusters.

• These models can explain the dynamics of spiral and elliptical galaxies without resorting to dark matter.
• We compute the pressure profiles of 579 galaxy clusters assuming that the gas is in hydrostatic equilibrium within the potential well of the modified gravitational field.
• The predicted profiles are compared with the average profile obtained by stacking the data of our cluster sample in the Planck foreground clean map SMICA.