Gravitational polarization and the phenomenology of MOND

The modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) has been proposed as an alternative to the dark matter paradigm; the philosophy behind is that there is no dark matter and we witness a violation of the Newtonian law of dynamics. In this paper, we interpret the phenomenology sustaining MOND differently, as resulting from an effect of ‘gravitational polarization’, of some cosmic fluid made of dipole moments, aligned in the gravitational field, and representing a new form of dark matter. We invoke an internal force, of non-gravitational origin, in order to hold together the microscopic constituents of the dipole. The dipolar particles are weakly influenced by the distribution of ordinary matter; they are accelerated not by the gravitational field, but by its gradient or tidal gravitational field.