English

Is it possible to know cosmological fine-tuning?

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics 2024-03-04 v2 Information Theory math.IT Methodology

Abstract

Fine-tuning studies whether some physical parameters, or relevant ratios between them, are located within so-called life-permitting intervals of small probability outside of which carbon-based life would not be possible. Recent developments have found estimates of these probabilities that circumvent previous concerns of measurability and selection bias. However, the question remains if fine-tuning can indeed be known. Using a mathematization of the epistemological concepts of learning and knowledge acquisition, we argue that most examples that have been touted as fine-tuned cannot be formally assessed as such. Nevertheless, fine-tuning can be known when the physical parameter is seen as a random variable and it is supported in the nonnegative real line, provided the size of the life-permitting interval is small in relation to the observed value of the parameter.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2401.04190,
  title  = {Is it possible to know cosmological fine-tuning?},
  author = {Daniel Andrés Díaz-Pachón and Ola Hössjer and Calvin Mathew},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.04190},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

Accepted version. Minor changes: a sentence removed at the end of Section 5.2, and more comprehensive keywords

R2 v1 2026-06-28T14:11:42.506Z