Two notions of naturalness

DOI10.1007/S10701-018-0229-1zbMATH Open1437.81011arXiv1812.08975OpenAlexW3100261346MaRDI QIDQ2286554FDOQ2286554

Porter Williams

Publication date: 22 January 2020

Published in: Foundations of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: My aim in this paper is twofold: (i) to distinguish two notions of naturalness employed in BSM physics and (ii) to argue that recognizing this distinction has methodological consequences. One notion of naturalness is an "autonomy of scales" requirement: it prohibits sensitive dependence of an effective field theory's low-energy observables on precise specification of the theory's description of cutoff-scale physics. I will argue that considerations from the general structure of effective field theory provide justification for the role this notion of naturalness has played in BSM model construction. A second, distinct notion construes naturalness as a statistical principle requiring that the values of the parameters in an effective field theory be "likely" given some appropriately chosen measure on some appropriately circumscribed space of models. I argue that these two notions are historically and conceptually related but are motivated by distinct theoretical considerations and admit of distinct kinds of solution.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1812.08975

zbMATH Keywords

multiverseeffective field theorynaturalnessbeyond the standard model

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

General and philosophical questions in quantum theory (81P05) Unified quantum theories (81V22) Effective quantum field theories (81T12)

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Cited In (6)

• Too naturalist and not naturalist enough: Reply to Horsten
• The practice of naturalness: a historical-philosophical perspective
• QCD and natural philosophy
• Finely tuned models sacrifice explanatory depth
• The `natural' and the `formal'
• Dogmas of effective field theory: scheme dependence, fundamental parameters, and the many faces of the Higgs naturalness principle

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