On the justification of multiple selection rules of conservation in particle physics phenomenology

Abstract

Earlier we analyzed the logic of postulating selection rules of conservation in particle physics phenomenology, and wrote a computer program that recovered the strangeness quantum numbers from historical reactions and assumptions. We proved the theorem that one selection rule suffices to account for any reactions data that can be explained in terms of conserved quantum numbers. Since physics practice involves multiple selection rules, this raised the issue of how to justify multiple rules in the face of this theorem. This article analyses several simplicity criteria and procedures, of which two lead to the desired justification: a minimax simplicity criterion, and a divide-and-con quer approach that leads to allowing conservation exceptions, i.e., reactions that disconserve quantum numbers that are postulated in other contexts not involving the reactions.