Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PhilDarkEnergy (Philosophy of Dark Energy)
Berichtszeitraum: 2022-09-01 bis 2024-08-31
Philosophy of modern astronomy & cosmology is a relatively novel field. Its main research centers are/ have been in the UK and in North America, with a strong focus on the epistemological aspects of astronomy and cosmology. The research programme that I am continuing to develop aims a) to make the EU a strong center for philosophy of astronomy and cosmology (PAC), and b) to ensure a well-rounded approach to PAC, by including metaphysical and semantical research questions. In particular, the astronomical and cosmological context is well-suited to question the tenability of the most primary ontological dichotomy, since Newton’s time dogmatically held to be sacrosanct, namely that every entity in our universe must be either spacetime (the container) or matter (the contained); it cannot be a bit of both, it cannot be neither. Preliminary work has focused on the case study of dark matter. Future work will focus on black holes, inflation and spin-2 gravity. This Marie Curie project focuses on the case study of dark energy, the mysterious ‘stuff’ held responsible for the accelerated expansion of our universe. The main hypothesis of the PhilDarkEnergy project is that dark energy cannot be neatly categorised as either pure container or pure contained. The dark energy case is particularly interesting since it brings to the fore a third category, that of a constant of nature, as the most simple and popular interpretation of dark energy is in the form of a cosmological constant.
Various trainings have contributed to obtaining an ERC Starting Grant of almost 1.5 million euro. This has resulted in an offer by Utrecht University for a soon-to-be permanent position, which I have taken up after early termination of the PhilDarkEnergy project after its seventh month. These developments have since allowed me to establish the Utrecht Philosophy of Astronomy & Cosmology Research Group (UPAC).
The PhilDarkEnergy has focused on a systematic conceptual analysis of the dark energy model landscape. This analysis tentatively corroborates the main working hypothesis of the project, that the spacetime, matter and constant of nature trichotomy breaks down, in that dark energy does not neatly fall into one of these categories. These intermediate results will feed into the sequel ERC project (“COSMO-MASTER”), which will additionally include black holes, inflation and spin-2 gravity as case studies, and will focus on a larger range of questions in order to develop a unified framework for navigating the single space of theories in the absence of a rigid, black-and-white spacetime-matter dichotomy.
The PhilDarkEnergy has focused on a systematic conceptual analysis of the dark energy model landscape. This analysis tentatively corroborates the main working hypothesis of the project, that the spacetime, matter and constant of nature trichotomy breaks down, in that dark energy does not neatly fall into one of these categories. These intermediate results will feed into the sequel ERC project (“COSMO-MASTER”), which will additionally include black holes, inflation and spin-2 gravity as case studies, and will focus on a larger range of questions in order to develop a unified framework for navigating the single space of theories in the absence of a rigid, black-and-white spacetime-matter dichotomy.
Due to the early termination of the project the full analysis of the dark energy model landscape has not yet been completed. However, the intermediate analysis will feed into the sequel project. Moreover, the formal equivalence of dark energy (in the form of a cosmological constant in the Einstein field equations) and the stress-energy tensor of a perfect fluid suggests interesting new connections with recent work in the philosophy of physics on functionalism.