Scribd
Upload
36 views1 page

Effective Theory

Uploaded by

BOBBY212
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
36 views1 page

Effective Theory

Uploaded by

BOBBY212
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

Effective theory

In science, an effective theory is a scientific theory which proposes to describe a certain set of
observations, but explicitly without the claim or implication that the mechanism used by the theory has a
direct counterpart in the actual causes of the observed phenomena to which the theory is fitted. That means
that the theory proposes to model a certain effect, without proposing to model adequately any of the causes
which contribute to the effect.

For example, effective field theory is a method used to describe physical theories when there is a hierarchy
of scales. Effective field theories in physics can include quantum field theories in which the fields are
treated as fundamental, and effective theories describing phenomena in solid-state physics. For instance, the
BCS theory of superconduction treats vibrations of the solid-state lattice as a "field" (i.e. without claiming
that there is really a field), with its own field quanta, known as phonons. Such "effective particles" derived
from effective fields are also known as quasiparticles.

In a certain sense, quantum field theory, and any other currently known physical theory, could be described
as "effective", as in being the "low energy limit" of an as-yet unknown "Theory of Everything".[1]

See also
Effective mass (solid-state physics) Phenomenological model
Emergence Phenomenology (physics)
Empirism Scientific method
Epistemology Turing test
Heuristics

References
1. c.f. Stamatescu, Ion-Olimpiu; Seiler, Erhard (2007). Approaches to Fundamental Physics: An
Assessment of Current Theoretical Ideas. Lecture Notes in Physics. Vol. 721. Springer.
p. 47. ISBN 978-3-540-71115-5.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Effective_theory&oldid=1136907602"

You might also like