MIND Dragging: A Dynamic Reference-Frame Framework for Galaxy Rotation Coherence Without Dark Matter

This work introduces MIND Dragging (Momentum-Induced Dynamic Dragging), a physically motivated framework that explains the coherence of galactic rotation curves through the emergence of a dynamic reference frame generated by collective angular momentum, without invoking dark matter. The central result demonstrates that the observed flat rotation velocity of a galaxy can be predicted independently from the total angular momentum of its stellar disk using the relation vflat=LtotalMtotal Reffv_{\mathrm{flat}} = \frac{L_{\mathrm{total}}}{M_{\mathrm{total}}\,R_{\mathrm{eff}}}vflat=MtotalReffLtotal where all quantities are directly measurable. We present a series of increasingly realistic tests, including: Idealized synthetic stellar populations, Hybrid datasets incorporating realistic velocity dispersions, Independent recovery of the Milky Way’s observed rotation velocity with ≤1.1–1.6% relative error,without fitting the rotation curve itself. Crucially, angular momentum is computed from individual stellar phase-space data, avoiding circularity and enabling a falsifiable prediction. The results indicate that MIND Dragging constitutes an observable manifestation of a dynamic spacetime frame induced by distributed angular momentum. The framework remains fully compatible with General Relativity and does not require modification of gravity or exotic matter components. A dedicated Theoretical Outlook section outlines clear routes toward a covariant formulation within GR and Einstein–Cartan theory, as well as a first-principles description of the Keplerian-to-MIND transition.