From a boson to the standard model Higgs: a case study in confirmation and model dynamics.

Our paper studies the anatomy of the discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider and its influence on the broader model landscape of particle physics. We investigate the phases of this discovery, which led to a crucial reconfiguration of the model landscape of elementary particle physi...

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Publicado en:Synthese Vol. 198; pp. 3779 - 3812
Autores principales: Chall, Cristin, King, Martin, Mättig, Peter, Stöltzner, Michael
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Jul2021 Supplement 16
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        10.1007/s11229-019-02216-7
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        atl: From a boson to the standard model Higgs: a case study in confirmation and model dynamics.
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        au:
          Chall, Cristin
          King, Martin
          Mättig, Peter
          Stöltzner, Michael
        affil:
          Physikalisches Institut, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Nussallee 12, 53115, Bonn, Germany
          Philosophy Department, University of South Carolina, 901 Sumter St, 29210, Columbia, SC, USA
      su:
        Standard model (Nuclear physics)
        Particle physics
        Large Hadron Collider
        Bosons
        Higgs bosons
        Symmetry breaking
      sug:
        subj:
          Standard model (Nuclear physics)
          Particle physics
          Large Hadron Collider
          Bosons
          Higgs bosons
          Symmetry breaking
      keyword:
        Confirmation
        Empirical epistemology
        Higgs boson
        Lakatosian research programmes
        Model dynamics
      ab: Our paper studies the anatomy of the discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider and its influence on the broader model landscape of particle physics. We investigate the phases of this discovery, which led to a crucial reconfiguration of the model landscape of elementary particle physics and eventually to a confirmation of the standard model (SM). A keyword search of preprints covering the electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB) sector of particle physics, along with an examination of physicists own understanding of the discovery as documented in semiannual conferences, has allowed us an empirical investigation of its model dynamics. From our analyses we draw two main philosophical lessons concerning the nature of scientific reasoning in a complex experimental and theoretical environment. For one, from a confirmation standpoint, some SM alternatives could be considered even more confirmed by the Higgs discovery than the SM. Nevertheless, the SM largely remains the commonly accepted account of EWSB. We present criteria for comparing degrees of confirmation and expose some limits of a purely logical approach to understanding the Higgs discovery as a victory for the SM. Second, we understand the persistence of SM alternatives in the face of disfavourable evidence by borrowing the Lakatosian concept of a research programme, where the core idea behind a group of models survives, while other aspects adapt to incoming data. In order to apply this framework to the model landscape of EWSB, we must introduce a new category of research programme, the model-group, and we test its viability using the example of composite Higgs models.
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    language: English
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