Ethically correct way to involve student in research and publication

Question

My collaborator has a PhD student (just starting their 2nd year) who as part of their project runs computer simulations, as directed by their supervisor. These brought up a result that is (1) tangential to their project and (2) unexpected and so far they have not understood. My collaborator and I think that we understand the result, which implies that some prevailing theory is wrong/incomplete. Obviously, we are keen to explore this further and publish about it.

What we are unsure about, however, is how we involve the student in all this.

Answer 1

I'm flying a bit blind here, but if I can assume that the student "stumbled" upon something that was important, but they didn't have the expertise to exploit it themselves, then, they are, in any ethical world, co-author with the rest of you who do have that experience and knowledge. Otherwise, I think you would be committing malpractice.

Lots of things take a long time to work themselves out. The implications of a discovery may not be obvious to the one who discovers them, even when that person is experienced and prominent in the field. I can't give examples, but there are important things in math named for discoverers who didn't fully comprehend the import of the discovery.

The fact that this is tangential to their own work is immaterial. The fact that it calls accepted theory into question is important.

You honor the profession as well as the student to include them as author in any publication resulting from this work.

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Edited to add. They may not have the experience to lead, and it might be a good learning experience for them if "you" do. And it might not be enough for a degree even if followed up. It might not be enough to have them redirect their research in this direction. You are a better judge of that than someone from a distance. But, yes, include them in important discussions and treat them (to some extent) as a colleague.

Answer 2

So if I understand this correctly, a PhD student working with your collaborator discovered some new result accidently. They don't quite understand the implications but you think that the results are substantial.

What exactly is the problem? Just include them in the work going forward. Perhaps explain why you think the results may be important. Then task the student with chasing it down a bit. Obviously if this is your colleague's student you don't really need to do much of this yourself - just be available and don't stand in the way of the students participation.

But it sounds like you want to cut them out. I wouldn't do this unless you have a really good reason.