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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 4: Symposium: Epistemology of Big Data in Physics II

AGPhil 4.1: Hauptvortrag

Donnerstag, 16. März 2017, 15:45–16:30, GW2 B2900

Exploratory data selection and theory-ladenness in the ATLAS experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider — •Koray Karaca — University of Twente, Department of Philosophy

Unprecedentedly large amounts of data are produced and analyzed at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC), thus presenting a paradigm case of big data in the context of present-day high-energy physics experiments. In this talk, I will discuss the data selection procedure in the ATLAS experiment currently running at the LHC, where the Higgs boson was discovered in 2012. I will argue that the data sets relevant to the objectives of the ATLAS experiment are acquired through what I shall call an exploratory data selection procedure. I will also argue that this data selection procedure is theory-laden, in the sense that the data selection criteria are determined by considering the conclusions of the theoretical models that the ATLAS experiment is aimed to test. Based on this case study, I will suggest that, contrary to previous studies, theory-ladenness can play an essential role in experimentation being exploratory, and that experimental exploration can serve to test theoretical predictions.