Cold dark matter resuscitated?

The cold dark matter (CDM) model has an elegant simplicity which makes it very predictive, but when its parameters are fixed at their 'canonical' values its predictions are in conflict with observational data. There is, however, much leeway in the initial conditions within the CDM framework. We advocate a reexamination of the CDM model, taking into account modest variation of parameters from their canonical values. We find that CDM models with n = 0.8-0.9 and h = 0.45-0.50 can fit the available data. We discuss the current state of observations which could definitely rule out this model. (Author)