This is the same question and answer as 'Why is the dark matter not been found? Because it isn't there. Both are the effects of a force from the center of spiral galaxies. see Quasi Steady State Cosmology or the Scalar Theory of Everything.
Are there other answers?
I don't think the answer is the same.
I'm sure that dark matter exists; it's just that it's probably white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes too far from us (and each other) to be easily observed, and looking for some kind of 'weird' dark matter will always fail, because that DOESN'T exist, but after a long, hard bout of observations, the too-boring-to-contemplate result will be as just stated, with the result that no one will win any prizes for proving it. For a historical discussion of why that is probably true, see Dark Matter In Galaxies (https://cseligman.com/text/galaxies/dark.htm ).
Planet X (I prefer that, because for me, Planet 9 will always be Pluto) hasn't been found (1) (perhaps 10% chance) because it's too faint to see without innumerable "deep" images of wherever it is, or (2) (probably 90%+ chance) because the calculations used to predict its existence are based on a false assumption. Similar calculations in the mid to late 1800's were used to predict the existence of planet 9, and led to the eventual discovery of Pluto. But Pluto does not have the characteristics predicted for planet 9, and later calculations (in the 1960's) proved that the false presumption that the early calculations had some basis in fact were wrong, there was nothing to justify the search for planet 9, and the discovery of Pluto was sheer good luck (and endless persistence). Odds are that IF there is something out there that is eventually found as a result of the search for Planet X, it will NOT have the predicted properties, and its discovery will NOT solve the questions that led to the prediction of its existence. As already noted, there's probably more than a 90% chance that as you said, it just doesn't exist, at least as the very massive object that it supposedly is.
Courtney Seligman
Thanks. Your paper is a good summary. I particularly liked your counting stars as a way to estimate mass rather than the mass to light ratio.
What we "know" is the observations/experiments. I'd add to your paper that beyond the visible stars (ionized Hydrogen alpha line emissions) is the hydrogen molecular emissions (21 cm) which is where the "flat rotation curve" observations originate. But, there are also rising RCs and falling RCs.
So, what we know within physics is that an unaccounted force seems to exist. Some form of matter in a spherical shell around the galaxy ("dark matter") is supposed to exert such a force.
Similarly, what we know from the orbits of Pluto and other TNOs is a force exists. The force on Pluto may also help explain some characteristics of the Pioneer Anomaly. Although I haven't made a study, this force may also explain several anomalies such as orbit precession in our solar system.
It seems elegant to explain several anomalies with 1 type of force.
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