Why Doesn't Dark Energy Expand Galaxies?

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andrewkirk said:
This question has no answer because 'a(t)' is a parameter of the FLRW model, which does not apply within a bound system such as a galaxy. Asking what the FLRW 'a' is inside a galaxy would be like asking what is the radius of an ellipse.

The FLRW model assumes perfect homogeneity of the universe, but a galaxy is by definition a region in which the homogeneity assumption does not apply.

The question we can ask, that does make sense within a galaxy, is:

'What effect do the factors that make the universe's expansion accelerate have within a galaxy?'

The answer to that is most likely reached via analysis of the impact of a nonzero [itex]\Lambda[/itex] on the curvature of spacetime within a galaxy. My facility with tensor equations is regrettably way below the level necessary to answer that question. But it seems reasonable to be confident that the answer is not 'none whatsoever'.
Oh, yeah, the effect of dark energy on galaxies is most definitely not zero. It's small, but not zero. The effect is even measurable for large galaxy clusters:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachs–Wolfe_effect
 

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