The background of my question relies on the following points.
Quine-Duhem thesis: it is difficult to test a theory with an experiment, because the test would rely on other theories.
The discussion of the previous point is difficult because we do not have a "theory of everything", so it is not clear if the chain of theories involved in an experiment ends somewhere.
It could be nice to make an attempt to reverse the logic: imagine a universe ruled by a given mathematical model (that we completely know), including entities able to perform experiments, and try to discuss to which extent they are able, by means of experiment, to discover the rules.
This approach does not require to mimic the real physical laws. In the past, it has been tried to imagine very unusual hypothetical universes and discus what the hypothetical inhabitants would see, e.g., "Flatland", or the non-Euclidean geometries. In some cases, scientists later discovered that the imagined universe had some relevance for the real life.
Now, the question is: given a mathematical model of a hypothetical universe, possibly including entities (animals, or robots) that are able to perform experiments, how is it possible to discuss the results of their experiments? And the models and theories that they can test and verify? Is there any philosophical attempt in this direction? Can anyone suggest some literature?
I do not think that these questions have a straightforward answer.
Just to avoid misunderstandings: I already deposited a pre-print on this topic, with some thoughts in this direction, but without references to literature. I do not put here the link because I do not want that my question looks as an advertisement for my manuscript.