Reproducibility and Replication of Experimental Particle Physics Results

TL;DR

This paper discusses the practices, tools, and challenges of ensuring reproducibility and replication in experimental particle physics, highlighting its reliability measures and relevance to other scientific fields.

Contribution

It provides an overview of the methodologies and data sharing practices that support reproducibility in particle physics, emphasizing their potential applicability elsewhere.

Findings

Particle physics experiments have robust safeguards for result reliability.

Publicly available data sets and analysis tools facilitate reproduction.

Some results have failed replication, while others have been successfully replicated.

Abstract

Recently, much attention has been focused on the replicability of scientific results, causing scientists, statisticians, and journal editors to examine closely their methodologies and publishing criteria. Experimental particle physicists have been aware of the precursors of non-replicable research for many decades and have many safeguards to ensure that the published results are as reliable as possible. The experiments require large investments of time and effort to design, construct, and operate. Large collaborations produce and check the results, and many papers are signed by more than three thousand authors. This paper gives an introduction to what experimental particle physics is and to some of the tools that are used to analyze the data. It describes the procedures used to ensure that results can be computationally reproduced, both by collaborators and by non-collaborators. It describes the status of publicly available data sets and analysis tools that aid in reproduction and recasting of experimental results. It also describes methods particle physicists use to maximize the reliability of the results, which increases the probability that they can be replicated by other collaborations or even the same collaborations with more data and new personnel. Examples of results that were later found to be false are given, both with failed replication attempts and one with alarmingly successful replications. While some of the characteristics of particle physics experiments are unique, many of the procedures and techniques can be and are used in other fields.