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A Comment on ‘Cosmology and Convention’ by David Merritt

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Abstract

In a recent article Merritt (2017) has claimed that current observational data provide “severe tests” falsifying the standard cosmological model (the Lambda-Cold-Dark-Matter model). Based on Popper’s idea of conventionalism, he concludes that the introduction of some essential components of the standard cosmological model—including dark matter and dark energy—are a consequence of conventionalist stratagems. In this article, I provide more recent discoveries and discussions showing that the standard cosmological model is not built on any conventionalist stratagem.

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Notes

  1. The cosmological constant term was first suggested by Einstein as he believed that our universe is static. However, when observations indicated the expansion of the universe, he rejected this term and said that the introduction of the cosmological constant was the biggest blunder of his life.

  2. The cosmological constant predicted by particle physics is of the order 10120 times larger than the actual one. Although we still have no good theory to reconcile this discrepancy, inclusion of the cosmological constant has a strong theoretical ground.

  3. Although the CDM model cannot tell us what the dark matter particles are, observational results based on the CDM model can constrain or predict some important properties of dark matter particles (e.g. mass range, cross section). For example, the standard thermal CDM model predicts the annihilation cross section of dark matter particles = 3 × 10−26 cm3 s−1 (Profumo 2017, 58). For some particular dark matter candidates, the CDM model can constrain their mass range and the self-interaction cross section. These information can help find new particles in collider experiments.

  4. http://www.xenon1t.org/.

  5. In particle physics, baryons are composite subatomic particles made up of three quarks (e.g. protons). In cosmology, the term baryons usually include leptons (e.g. electrons).

  6. In cosmology, “cored density profile” means that the density approaches a constant when r is small.

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Tom Mongan and the referee for helpful comments on the manuscript. This work is partially supported by the Dean’s Research Grant from the Education University of Hong Kong (activity code 04301).

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  1. Department of Science and Environmental Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong

    Man Ho Chan

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Chan, M.H. A Comment on ‘Cosmology and Convention’ by David Merritt. J Gen Philos Sci 50, 283–296 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10838-019-09444-y

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