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.

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