Speculative Physics: the Ontology of Theory and Experiment in High Energy Particle Physics and Science Fiction by Clarissa Ai Ling Lee Graduate Program in Literature Duke University Date: _______________________ Approved: ___________________________ N. Katherine Hayles, Co-Supervisor ___________________________ Mark C. Kruse, Co-Supervisor ___________________________ Mark B. Hansen ___________________________ Andrew Janiak ___________________________ Timothy Lenoir Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate Program in Literature in the Graduate School of Duke University 2014 i v ABSTRACT Speculative Physics: the Ontology of Theory and Experiment in High Energy Particle Physics and Science Fiction by Clarissa Ai Ling Lee Graduate Program in Literature Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ N. Katherine Hayles, Co-Supervisor ___________________________ Mark C. Kruse, Co-Supervisor ___________________________ Mark B. Hansen ___________________________ Andrew Janiak ___________________________ Timothy Lenoir An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate Program in Literature in the Graduate School of Duke University 2014 i v Copyright by Clarissa Ai Ling Lee 2014 Abstract The dissertation brings together approaches across the fields of physics, critical theory, literary studies, philosophy of physics, sociology of science, and history of science to synthesize a hybrid approach for instigating more rigorous and intense cross- disciplinary interrogations between the sciences and the humanities. I explore the concept of speculation in particle physics and science fiction to examine emergent critical approaches for working in the two areas of literature and physics (the latter through critical science studies), but with the expectation of contributing new insights to media theory, critical code studies, and also the science studies of science fiction. There are two levels of conversations going on in the dissertation; at the first level, the discussion is centered on a critical historiography and philosophical implications of the discovery Higgs boson in relation to its position at the intersection of old (current) and the potential for new possibilities in quantum physics; I then position my findings on the Higgs boson in connection to the double-slit experiment that represents foundational inquiries into quantum physics, to demonstrate the bridge between fundamental physics and high energy particle physics. The conceptualization of the variants of the double-slit experiment informs the aforementioned critical comparisons. At the second level of the conversation, theories are produced from a close study of the physics objects as speculative engine for new knowledge generation that are iv then reconceptualized and re-articulated for extrapolation into the speculative ontology of hard science fiction, particularly the hard science fiction written with the double intent of speaking to the science while producing imaginative and socially conscious science through the literary affordances of science fiction. The works of science fiction examined here demonstrate the tension between the internal values of physics in the practice of theory and experiment and questions on ethics, culture, and morality. Nevertheless, the dissertation hopes to show the beginnings of a possibility, through the contentious but generative space provided by speculative physics, to produce more cross-collaborative thinking between physics as represented by the hard sciences, and science fiction representing the objects of literary enterprise and creative evolution. v Dedication In loving memory of my father, Lt Commander Han Seng Lee (Rtd) (AMN), who passed away on July 7, 2012 before he see the fruits of this labor that is completed less than two years after his passing in honor of his memory. I also dedicate this work to my mother and sister, as well as the rest of my extended family and friends for their support through tough times. vi Contents Abstract .........................................................................................................................................iv List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... x Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................xi 1. Prolog: the Science Studies of High Energy Particle Physics and Hard Science Fiction............................................................................................................................................. 1 2. What is Speculative Physics: Between Theory and Experiment................................... 23 2.1 Speculative Theory......................................................................................................... 45 2.1.1 Speculative Theory and Mathematical Embodiment........................................... 52 2.1.2 The Activism of Speculative Theory....................................................................... 58 2.2 Speculative Experiment................................................................................................. 60 2.3 Speculative Experiment of Fiction: Science Fiction and the Politics of Speculation ................................................................................................................................................. 69 2.4 Theory and Experiment: the Dialectics ....................................................................... 76 2.5 Conclusion....................................................................................................................... 79 3. Interpreting and Measuring: the Fiction of the Higgs and the Fable of Fundamental Interpretation .............................................................................................................................. 81 3.1 The Higgs boson and its Speculative Denouement for the Standard Model ...... 100 3.2 The Foundation of Measurement and (Non)-Standard Interpretation ................ 113 3.3 Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 124 4. Rapprochement of the micro and macro in Egan’s Quarantine .................................. 126 4.1 Reading Quarantine as Speculative Theory in the Epochs of Capital.................. 145 4.2 Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 166 vii 5. Observation or What You See is Not What You Always Get: the Impossibility of Observing the Unknown........................................................................................................ 169 5.1 The Fiction of the Higgs boson: Dimensions of Observability .............................. 175 5.2 The Missing Supersymmetry (SUSY) and Going Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) .................................................................................................................................... 192 5.3 Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 199 6. Fact from Fiction: the Impossible Affair of Observing the New through an Unknown ................................................................................................................................... 201 6.1 Hard Science Fiction: the Ethics of the Speculative................................................. 208 6.2 Configuring Scientific Observation in Hard Science Fiction ................................. 215 6.3 The Morality of the Scientific Method: Fictive Realities ......................................... 235 6.4 Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 244 7. Simulating Nature: Monte Carlo as Speculative Methodology of Approximating the Ontology of Particle Physics.................................................................................................. 245 7.1 The Cybernetic World of the Monte Carlo in High Stakes Physics ...................... 258 7.2 Monte Carlo as Speculative Heuristics of the Higgs Boson ................................... 271 7.3 Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 283 8. Epilog: Evaluating Speculative Physics........................................................................... 289 8.1 Extending Speculative Physics Beyond Physics and Science Fiction ................... 299 8.2 Critical Science Studies and Speculative Physics..................................................... 301 Appendix A: The Standard Model of Particle Physics: From Prehistory to History .. 305 A.1 Cosmic Rays and the Particles of the Standard Model .......................................... 312 A.2 The Metaphysics of the Gauge Entities.................................................................... 317 viii A.3 The Enigma of the Quark ........................................................................................... 323 A.4 Beyond the Standard Model ...................................................................................... 332 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................