Dark matter and dark energy proposals: maintaining cosmology as a true science?

TL;DR

This paper examines the scientific testability of dark matter, dark energy, the multiverse, and large-scale inhomogeneity proposals to assess their status as empirical scientific theories.

Contribution

It analyzes the relationship between explanatory hypotheses and their testability in cosmology, emphasizing the importance of empirical verification for scientific validity.

Findings

Dark matter detection remains observationally challenging.

Testing dark energy and the cosmological constant involves multiple observational approaches.

The multiverse hypothesis and large-scale inhomogeneity pose significant testability issues.

Abstract

I consider the relation of explanations for the observed data to testability in the following contexts: observational and experimental detection of dark matter; observational and experimental detection of dark energy or a cosmological constant $\Lambda$; observational or experimental testing of the multiverse proposal to explain a small non-zero value of $\Lambda$; and observational testing of the possibility of large scale spatial inhomogeneity with zero $\Lambda$.