Abstract
We introduce a novel point of view on the “models as mediators” framework in order to emphasize certain important epistemological questions about models in science which have so far been little investigated. To illustrate how this perspective can help answer these kinds of questions, we explore the use of simplified models in high energy physics research beyond the Standard Model. We show in detail how the construction of simplified models is grounded in the need to mitigate pressing epistemic problems concerning the uncertainty inherent in the present theoretical and experimental contexts.
Highlights
The philosophical literature on models in science has drawn attention to a variety of issues of great importance for understanding the practice of science (Bailer-Jones 1999; Frigg and Hartmann 2012), as numerous case studies attest.1 One of the key insights, emphasized both by Cartwright (1999) and Morrison (1999), is that a distinctive feature of models is their partial independence from both theory and data—in a sense explicated by Morrison and Morgan (1999) they mediate between them
Simplified models have emerged in recent years as a useful class of models in high energy physics, because of how they mediate between the data collected at particle colliders and the theoretical scenarios explored in Beyond Standard Model (BSM) physics
The novel perspective on the “models as mediators” framework introduced in §2 usefully emphasizes the importance of certain epistemological questions which have so far been little investigated in the philosophical literature on models in science
Summary
The philosophical literature on models in science has drawn attention to a variety of issues of great importance for understanding the practice of science (Bailer-Jones 1999; Frigg and Hartmann 2012), as numerous case studies attest. One of the key insights, emphasized both by Cartwright (1999) and Morrison (1999), is that a distinctive feature of models is their partial independence from both theory and data—in a sense explicated by Morrison and Morgan (1999) they mediate between them. They are perfect examples of “models as mediators”, demonstrating partial autonomy through their construction and a variety of functions which contribute to their utility in learning about potential new phenomena and about theory The multiplicity of their relations to theory and experiment—to quantum field theory (QFT), the standard model (SM) of particle physics, speculative BSM ideas like supersymmetry (SUSY), and collider data from the LHC and Tevatron experiments— permits a study of the variety and degree of independence from these in concert with simplified models’ various intended functions. This variety makes simplified models an attractive and nuanced example for illustrating how modeling choices may be determined and grounded in the larger epistemological context of models.
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