The Problem of Observation in Cosmology and the Big Bang

Abstract

The understanding of universe has to utilize experimental data from the present to deduce the state of the universe in distant regions which implies in the distant past. Also, theories have to account for certain peculiarities or “coincidences” observed, first discovered by Eddington and Dirac. The prevalent view today in cosmology is the big bang, inflationary evolutionary model. This theory has to be finely tuned to account for these coincidences such as the flatness, the horizon and more recently the cosmological constant problems. Certain nagging problems have remained, e.g. the need to postulate cold, dark matter in amounts much larger than all the observable matter put together and more recently the need to postulate that the universe is even accelerating, i.e. the totally unknown and postulated cosmological constant prevails over the large structure of the universe. Big bang cosmology has been extrapolated to realms beyond its observational applicability and despite its impressive achievements, this methodology may go counter to the usual requirement of verification on which all science rests. We will present fundamentally different approaches that may be more in accord with quantum epistemology. Consequences of these approaches will be explored.