A category mistake in observational claims regarding ultrashort-lived unstable particles

Abstract

The physics literature contains many claims that ultrashort-lived unstable particles, such as a Higgs boson, have been observed. These claims are a matter of applying the $5\sigma$-convention in particle physics. This paper, however, shows that by applying this $5\sigma$-convention a category mistake is made, by which a pure reasoning is passed off as an observation. Not only are these two fundamentally different primitive notions at the very basis of science, but the pure reasoning in question is also weaker than an observation: what we have in each case is that the existence of the ultrashort-lived unstable particle is inferred to the best explanation, but that does absolutely not merit the stronger claim that the particle in question has been "observed". Consequently, the observational claims in question will thus have to be dismissed as overstatements. On a general note, this demonstrates that the empirical support for the Standard Model of particle physics is significantly less than hitherto thought.

arXiv comment6 pages, 2 figures; this version is a proof that the $5\sigma$-convention in particle physics is by itself inadequate for observational claims; the previous version, a conference paper with criticism on the $5\sigma$-convention from the perspective of existing philosophical literature, has been made available at philpapers.org

References in corpus (5)

• Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger
• Observation of a new particle in the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC
• Observation of a new boson at a mass of 125 GeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC
• Observation of the resonant character of the $Z(4430{)}^{-}$ state
• Observation of the doubly strange b baryon Omega_b-

Cited by in corpus (1)

• A paradox in the quantum-mechanical treatment of destructive measurements on photons