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Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics , which uses experimental tools to probe these phenomena.
Experimental physics is the category of disciplines and sub-disciplines in the field of physics that are concerned with the observation of physical phenomena and experiments. Methods vary from discipline to discipline, from simple experiments and observations, such as Galileo's experiments , to more complicated ones, such as the Large Hadron ...
Thus thought experiments belong to a theoretical discipline, usually to theoretical physics, but often to theoretical philosophy. In any case, it must be distinguished from a real experiment, which belongs naturally to the experimental discipline and has "the final decision on true or not true", at least in physics.
There is a debate about the status of computation within the scientific method. [4] Sometimes it is regarded as more akin to theoretical physics; some others regard computer simulation as "computer experiments", [4] yet still others consider it an intermediate or different branch between theoretical and experimental physics, a third way that supplements theory and experiment.
In physics, the term theory is generally used for a mathematical framework—derived from a small set of basic postulates (usually symmetries—like equality of locations in space or in time, or identity of electrons, etc.)—that is capable of producing experimental predictions for a given category of physical systems.
These experimental results appear to have solved the long-standing solar neutrino problem, and the physics of massive neutrinos remains an area of active theoretical and experimental research. The Large Hadron Collider has already found the Higgs boson, but future research aims to prove or disprove the supersymmetry , which extends the Standard ...
astrophysics, the physics in the universe, including the properties and interactions of celestial bodies in astronomy; atmospheric physics is the application of physics to the study of the atmosphere; space physics is the study of plasmas as they occur naturally in the Earth's upper atmosphere (aeronomy) and within the Solar System
In physics, phenomenology is the application of theoretical physics to experimental data by making quantitative predictions based upon known theories. It is related to the philosophical notion of the same name in that these predictions describe anticipated behaviors for the phenomena in reality.