MOND and the Lensing Fundamental Plane: No need for dark matter on galaxy scales

Bolton et al. (2007) have derived a mass-based fundamental plane using photometric and spectroscopic observations of 36 strong gravitational lenses. The lensing allows a direct determination of the mass-surface density and so avoids the usual dependence on mass-to-light ratio. We consider this same sample in the context of modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) and demonstrate that the observed mass-based fundamental plane coincides with the MOND fundamental plane determined previously for a set of polytropic spheres chosen to match the observed range of effective radii and velocity dispersions in elliptical galaxies. Moreover, the observed projected mass within one-half an effective radius is consistent with the mass in visible stars plus a small additional component of “phantom dark matter” resulting from the MOND contribution to photon deflection.