Bullet Cluster Dynamics in TPST and TGM: An Elastic-Spacetime Alternative to Dark Matter

The Bullet Cluster (1E 0657–56) is widely considered one of the strongest pieces of evidence for particle dark matter due to the observed offset between the X-ray plasma and gravitational lensing peaks.In this work, we provide a full alternative explanation using the Tareq Planck Spacetime Theory (TPST) and the Tareq Gravity Model (TGM).TPST describes spacetime as an elastic Planck-scale lattice, while TGM is the macroscopic scalar-gravity limit that emerges from this structure. During a high-velocity cluster collision, the baryonic plasma is collisional and slows down, whereas galaxies and the elastic curvature field propagate nearly collisionlessly through the spacetime lattice.As a result, the gravitational lensing peaks trace the curvature field rather than the gas, naturally reproducing the observed mass–gas separation without invoking exotic dark matter particles.This paper presents the full TPST/TGM field equations, the relativistic extension (TPST-GR), curvature-transport dynamics, lensing formulation, and observational predictions that distinguish this framework from ΛCDM.