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Hypothesizing that a planet might be over there is a testable hypothesis. Have we found a way to verify the presence of dark matter yet? Or is it still an unt
by solid_fuel 2y ago
Hypothesizing that a planet might be over there is a testable hypothesis.
Have we found a way to verify the presence of dark matter yet? Or is it still an untestable hypothesis sprinkled around distant galaxies so their acceleration curves look right?
- User23 2y agoI’m particularly amused by the hypothesis that spacetime can be bent without the presence of matter. We can’t detect dark matter because there’s no such thing, it’s just a brute topological fact.
- mr_mitm 2y agoDark matter predicted lensing effect which were successfully tested. Same for the baryonic acoustic oscillations in the CMB.
- MattPalmer1086 2y agoThat's not quite true. General relativity predicts gravitational lensing, not dark matter. Lensing has been used as an experimental probe for the presence of dark matter.
- elashri 2y agoMOND is an alternative theory of gravity competing with GR. People usually forget that while MOND started to present a different explanation for Dark Matter, it is a theory of gravity. Dark Matter is not a theory of gravity and is compatible with GR.
- zeroonetwothree 2y agoDark matter isn’t much of a theory in the first place.
- mr_mitm 2y agoWell of course. What I clearly meant was that DM predicts lensing effects in a magnitude that cannot be explained with ordinary matter. See bullet cluster or weak lensing observations.