Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Recent work on the philosophy of high energy physics experiments has considerably advanced our understanding of their epistemology, for instance concerning measurements by the ATLAS collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider (Beauchemin, Synthese 194:275–312, 2017). In this paper we aim to highlight and analyze complementary low energy ‘tabletop’ experiments in particle (and other kinds of fundamental) physics. In particular, we contrast ATLAS measurements with high precision measurements of the electron magnetic moment. We find, for instance, that the simplicity of the latter experiment allows for uncertainties to be minimized materially , in the very construction of the apparatus. We also sketch how a notion of ‘frugality’ can be used, in light of considerations of simplicity, to understand the value of low energy experiments with respect to the entrenched field of high energy experiment.
Source: Synthese
Authors: Nick Huggett, Mike D. Schneider
Institutions: University of Illinois Chicago, University of Missouri
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,190
OpenAlex ID: W4417119342