Submitted by jmite t3_10am6y2 in askscience
Leemour t1_j484cvk wrote
Reply to comment by Aseyhe in How do we know that dark matter isn't just ordinary matter our instruments can't detect? by jmite
Couldn't we just be wrong about some aspects of cosmology, something like relativistic gravity?
Aseyhe t1_j48ddgg wrote
That is possible. However:
The early-universe evidence for dark matter is so strong that even the (non-mainstream) researchers who favor modifications to gravity to explain dark matter in galaxies still have to include dark matter in the early universe. Then they have to get rid of it by the time galaxies start to form to make way for their gravity theory.
Another perspective is that dark matter is a much simpler hypothesis than a modification to gravity. We already know of one dark matter species -- neutrinos -- and it's really not a stretch to suppose that there is another. The only special feature that we know it has to have is that it has to reach the observed abundance.
forte2718 t1_j49mt2l wrote
I think XKCD said it best:
>Yes, everybody has already had the idea, "maybe there's no dark matter — gravity just works differently on large scales!" It sounds good but doesn't really fit the data.
The bottom line is that, even though we've explored quite a lot of modified-gravity / alternative-cosmology models, none of them have been able to fit all of the data even with some of the wildest and most contrived parameterizations. In basically every case, we can choose parameterizations that work to fit some datasets, but then those same parameterizations then go on to fail miserably at fitting other datasets ... and there just isn't any parameterization that works for them all at the same time, which means none of those models are actually viable as models of cosmology.
On the other hand, not only are dark matter models incredibly simple by comparison, but it is straightforward to parameterize them such that all of the datasets are well-fitted with the same parameterization, and getting to that point doesn't even require any specific model of dark matter — the generic idea of dark matter works so well that there are many different possible models of dark matter that work. It could be sterile neutrinos, or axions, or WIMPs, or light supersymmetric particles, the list goes on and on ...
When an idea works so well and with such simplicity and generality while every other idea explored falls flat on its face no matter how complicated you make it, you just have to take a step back and admit that maybe, just maybe, the simple and general idea is actually the correct one. It's kind of like ... if you're sitting there with pegs of different shapes and you find that the round peg fits the round hole but none of the other pegs fit it, well ...
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