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This reminds me of my layperson puzzlement: Can we apply and verify the results from CERN experiments beyond experimental settings? If we can't, how can we kno
by nonpolitical 6y ago
This reminds me of my layperson puzzlement:
Can we apply and verify the results from CERN experiments beyond experimental settings? If we can't, how can we know the results from CERN experiments aren't just artifacts of the experimental apparatuses?
- losvedir 6y agoThat's a good question. You're right that a random grad student in a lab can't replicate, e.g., the discovery of the Higgs boson! However, at least for the Higgs (and I believe this is standard for most such large experiments), there were actually two different groups using two different apparatuses, both at CERN. There was the CMS[0] detector and ATLAS[1] detector, used and analyzed by two different groups of physicists, resulting in two papers[2,3], published on the same day. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Muon_Solenoid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Muon_Solenoid [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATLAS_experiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATLAS_experiment [2] https://arxiv.org/abs/1207.7235 https://arxiv.org/abs/1207.7235 [3] https://arxiv.org/abs/1207.7214 https://arxiv.org/abs/1207.7214
- nonpolitical 6y agoThanks! Pity that I guess I won't be able to understand the papers linked in the foreseeable future.