# Avoiding Reification. A new article on the Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics!

I am pleased to announce that my new article Avoiding Reification will be published on the volume 53 of the Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics (February 2016)!

In this article I have discussed and critically examined a very interesting case of existential prediction in particle physics: the prediction of the $\varOmega^-$ particle (a particle of the class of the spin-$\frac{3}{2}$ baryons). Existential predictions in science are always very thrilling, as you may imagine; but this prediction is even more interesting than usual because of the peculiar role that mathematics seems to play. Such a peculiar role raises a serious philosophical problem, since apparently we cannot justify it on the basis of standard methodological criteria. In this paper I discuss this problem and I offer a solution to it by offering a new logical reconstruction of the prediction of the $\varOmega^-$ particle, based on the representative and heuristic effectiveness that mathematics may exhibit under certain conditions.

Here is the abstract of the paper, just to give you an idea of the content:

According to Steiner (1998), in contemporary physics new important discoveries are often obtained by means of strategies which rely on purely formal   mathematical considerations. In such discoveries, mathematics seems to have a peculiar and controversial role, which apparently cannot be accounted for by means of standard methodological criteria. M. Gell-Mann and Y. Ne׳eman׳s prediction of the $\varOmega^-$ particle is usually considered a typical example of application of this kind of strategy. According to Bangu (2008), this prediction is apparently based on the employment of a highly controversial principle—what he calls the “reification principle”. Bangu himself takes this principle to be methodologically unjustifiable, but still indispensable to make the prediction logically sound. In the present paper I will offer a new reconstruction of the reasoning that led to this prediction. By means of this reconstruction, I will show that we do not need to postulate any “reificatory” role of mathematics in contemporary physics and I will contextually clarify the representative and heuristic role of mathematics in science.

Good read and happy new year to everybody!