FOR 2063:  The Epistemology of the Large Hadron Collider

• Subject Area: Humanities ; Physics ; Social and Behavioural Sciences
• Term: since 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 234743567

The idea of the proposed Research Unit builds on today´s physicists expectations of a fundamental change in the theoretical foundations of physics. It asks about the deeper reasons behind these expectations and links them to the complex conditions of physical research, in order to inquire whether these expectations are substantiated. It regards the complexity of these conditions as a challenge for the quest towards ever more encompassing and simpler descriptions of nature. The Research Unit will study these new epistemic conditions, using as its principal case study the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Center for Particle Physics CERN in Geneva.The proposal builds on a very close and successful interaction and cooperation of philosophers of science, sociologists of science, historians of science, and physicists over the course of several years. This cooperation has resulted in three DFG-funded projects and has received considerable international attention. The proposed Research Unit will continue, but also significantly restart, this interdisciplinary cooperation. While it still focuses on questions in the philosophy of physics and science, it will also include the historical development of physical knowledge and its embedding in social contexts. Integrating the perspectives of these different disciplines within a single proposal, the Research Unit opens novel pathways for understanding the production of scientific knowledge and its structure in particle physics.The projects proposed by the Research Unit fall into two clusters. Cluster A, focusing on change in the theoretical foundations of particle physics, will consist of three projects: the history of the concept of virtual particles (A1); problems of hierarchy, fine-tuning, and naturalness (A2); and the contextual relation between the LHC and gravitational theory (A3). Cluster B will focus on the complex practice of particle physics and likewise contain three projects: the impact of computer simulation on the epistemic status of LHC data (B1); model building and dynamics (B2); and the conditions of producing novelty and securing credibility from the sociology of science perspective (B3). Each project team will contain at least one physicist and one researcher from a discipline concerned with reflection on science. Four of the ten project leaders will be located at the University of Wuppertal, and just over half the project members will also be employed there.Alongside work at the individual project level and at the level of the collaborative Research Unit as such, two scientific events are planned for the first three-year period: an international conference, and a further international spring school on particle physics and philosophy.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• International Connection: Austria, USA

Projects

• Coordination Funds (Applicant Schiemann, Gregor )
• LHC and gravity (Applicants Krämer, Michael ;  Lehmkuhl, Dennis )
• Model building and dynamics (Applicant Mättig, Peter )
• Producing Novelty and Securing Credibility: LHC Experiments from the Perspective of Social Studies of Science (Applicant Mättig, Peter )
• The formation and development of the concept of virtual particles (Applicants Harlander, Robert ;  Wüthrich, Adrian )
• The hierarchy, fine tuning, and naturalness problem from a philosophical perspective (Applicants Dardashti, Radin ;  Harlander, Robert )
• The impact of computer simulations on the epistemic status of LHC data (Applicants Hillerbrand, Rafaela ;  Schiemann, Gregor ;  Zeitnitz, Christian )

• Partner Organisation: Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (FWF)
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Gregor Schiemann