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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 11: Particle Physics 2

AGPhil 11.3: Talk

Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 18:00–18:30, PTB SR AvHB

The Operationalist Take on Scientific Concepts — •Nurida Boddenberg — University Bonn, Bonn, Germany

Exotic quarkonium" serves as an umbrella term to describe states in particle physics that have been increasingly detected since 2003 and share some characteristics with conventional quarkonium (theorized as a state constituted of a heavy quark and its antiquark), along with some exotic features. Although various theoretical models like tetraquarks, hadron-quarkonium, and hadronic molecules have been proposed, there is no consensus on a definitive model to describe and categorize these exotic states.

For this matter, I propose a different route for classification. Instead, I will focus on the experimental signatures that are associated with the respective states and their overlap. This approach enables an operational assessment and the construction of a network of uses*various ways in which a scientific concept can be used.

This endeavor draws inspiration from a revised operationalism that allows defining the meaning of scientific concepts when a theoretical framework is absent, or multiple models are competing. This can be useful for scientific discovery, but also for redefining conventional concepts such as those of temperature or even black holes.

Keywords: operationalism; signature; particle physics; concept; exotic quarkonium