I was wondering which conditional would be appropriate in the following argument.
There's no evidence to support the opposition's claim that a black hole resulted from the supernova. Furthermore, if a black hole (had) resulted from the supernova, then our instruments would have detected it. Thus, the opposition is wrong.
I was thinking of using the third conditional to express confidence that the black hole did not result, but then I realized that suggesting the impossibility of the black hole resulting from the supernova in a premise might be circular.
So, my question is should I keep the third conditional
If a black hole had resulted from the supernova...
or change the "if" clause to simple past
If a black hole resulted from the supernova...
?