Models, Computer Simulation, and Dark Matter

Computer simulations play an ineliminable role in contemporary cosmology. The use of simulations raises basic epistemological questions: how reliable are simulations, given how weakly constrained by observations they are? Given that a particular simulation is adequate with respect to one purpose, how should we evaluate extensions to cover novel problems? To what extent can we trust simulations to generate knowledge? Drawing on recent literature on these issues in philosophy, we will focus on how these questions can be addressed in using simulations to study structure formation and the observational consequences of dark matter. Symposiasts will argue that some techniques developed in other sciences do not apply in cosmology, and will introduce and assess novel ways of determining the reliability of simulations developed by cosmologists.