  We study the link between baryons and dark matter in 240 galaxies with
spatially resolved kinematic data. Our sample spans 9 dex in stellar mass and
includes all morphological types. We consider (i) 153 late-type galaxies (LTGs;
spirals and irregulars) with gas rotation curves from the SPARC database; (ii)
25 early-type galaxies (ETGs; ellipticals and lenticulars) with stellar and HI
data from ATLAS^3D or X-ray data from Chandra; and (iii) 62 dwarf spheroidals
(dSphs) with individual-star spectroscopy. We find that LTGs, ETGs, and
"classical" dSphs follow the same radial acceleration relation: the observed
acceleration (gobs) correlates with that expected from the distribution of
baryons (gbar) over 4 dex. The relation coincides with the 1:1 line (no dark
matter) at high accelerations but systematically deviates from unity below a
critical scale of ~10^-10 m/s^2. The observed scatter is remarkably small
(<0.13 dex) and largely driven by observational uncertainties. The residuals do
not correlate with any global or local galaxy property (baryonic mass, gas
fraction, radius, etc.). The radial acceleration relation is tantamount to a
Natural Law: when the baryonic contribution is measured, the rotation curve
follows, and vice versa. Including ultrafaint dSphs, the relation may extend by
another 2 dex and possibly flatten at gbar<10^-12 m/s^2, but these data are
significantly more uncertain. The radial acceleration relation subsumes and
generalizes several well-known dynamical properties of galaxies, like the
Tully-Fisher and Faber-Jackson relations, the "baryon-halo" conspiracies, and
Renzo's rule.

Astrophysics of Galaxies