Bremen 2017 – scientific programme

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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

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

AGPhil 4.2: Talk

Thursday, March 16, 2017, 16:30–17:00, GW2 B2900

The discovery of elementary particles as a diagnostic causal inference — •Adrian Wüthrich — Technische Universität Berlin

Using the discovery of the W and the Higgs boson as my case studies, I will propose to interpret the essential part of the discovery of an elementary particle as a diagnostic causal inference. In a diagnostic causal inference, the researchers infer the instantiation of a type of cause from the instantiation of a type of effect. In the case of elementary particles, the type of effect is a characteristic pattern of reactions in the detector material, and the type of cause is the presence of a certain elementary particle, which, often through a long chain of intermediate causes and effects, brought about the reactions under consideration. The interpretation of the discovery of elementary particles as a diagnostic causal inference sheds new light on several issues in the philosophy of science. I will address, in particular, the role of data selection and the role of theoretical predictions as well as the reliability of the discovery claim that results from a diagnostic causal inference.