# The experiment paradox in physics

## TL;DR

This paper discusses the 'experiment paradox' in physics, highlighting the inherent invasiveness of experiments that limit model accuracy, and explores how environment-based approaches address this issue in classical and quantum physics.

## Contribution

It introduces the concept of the experiment paradox and analyzes its implications, proposing methodological principles to mitigate its effects in scientific practice.

## Key findings

- Experiments are inherently invasive, limiting model accuracy.
- Environment-based approaches help overcome the experiment paradox.
- Methodological principles of compressibility and stability are proposed.

## Abstract

Modern physics is founded on two mainstays: mathematical modelling and empirical verification. These two assumptions are prerequisite for the objectivity of scientific discourse. Here we show, however, that they are contradictory, leading to the `experiment paradox'. We reveal that any experiment performed on a physical system is - by necessity - invasive and thus establishes inevitable limits to the accuracy of any mathematical model. We track its manifestations in both classical and quantum physics and show how it is overcome `in practice' via the concept of environment. We argue that the scientific pragmatism ordains two methodological principles of compressibility and stability.