European Atomic Energy Experimental Agency Centre.
A collision meeting was held here to arrange the work of the LHC for the next six months.
"If there are no objections, the work arrangement from July 15th to December 1st in the second half of this year will be carried out according to the form in your hand."
In the spacious conference room, LHC Board of Directors Chairman David Gross, who was wearing rimless glasses, adjusted his glasses and glanced at the entire conference room.
These work arrangements have actually been discussed and debated a long time ago, and it is just a process to be mentioned again at the board of directors.
After all, the LHC is the largest large strong particle collider in the world today. Every operation and collision experiment it performs may bring Nobel Prize-level results.
Coupled with the large number of its member states, it can be said that the interests involved behind it are extremely complex.
Applause broke out in the conference room. David Gross showed a funny-looking smile, not that he meant it, but that was just how he smiled.
"Okay, that's it for today's meeting. Everyone is dismissed."
There was a rustling sound, and many council members and participants left one after another.
"Hi, Witten, let's go have a cup of coffee together?"
After Chairman David Gross packed up the meeting materials on the table, he saw Edward Witten who had not left yet. He was looking at something with concentration at the moment.
Hearing the voice, Edward Witten replied without raising his head: "Go ahead, I have something else to do here."
"What are you looking at? You are so serious."
Witten's engrossed look aroused the curiosity of David Gross, and the LHC chairman came over.
However, he did not look at anything on the computer without permission. After all, everyone has their own privacy and secrets, and some cannot be shared with others.
Leaning against the conference table, David Gross didn't care whether Witten would answer his question, and then asked: "I heard that you have accepted a student, why don't you bring some knowledge with you this time?"
"He is now studying mathematics with Deligne."
"Deline? Viscount Pierre Deligne?" David Gross asked in surprise.
Witten nodded: "Yeah."
David Gross was curious: "But isn't he your student?"
Witten shrugged and said, "He is also a student of Deligne."
Hearing this, David Gross became more curious and asked with surprise: "It's incredible, you two actually accepted the same person as your student. What is his background?"
Witten: "The Weyl-berry conjecture, the most important discovery in mathematics last year, was proved by him."
"In addition, the calculation method of celestial parameters currently under review in the journal "Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics", which has attracted the greatest attention in the astrophysics community today, is also his result."
"It turns out to be him, a talented boy from that eastern country."
David Gross suddenly understood why Witten and Deligne would accept the same person as a student at the same time.
For other people, this is almost impossible, but for an eighteen-year-old genius who can solve world-class mathematical conjecture problems, this is nothing.
"Mr. Chairman, I need to apply for the medium-sized proton synchrotron at the center of the experimental institution this month." Witten said.
"sps?"
Witten nodded and said, "Yes, does it have any experimental plans this month?"
David Gross thought for a while and then said: "There must be arrangements. There is an experimental application from the University of Oxford, a country where the sun never sets, and there is also an accelerated experiment from New Zealand, but they are not very important experiments."
After a pause, he then asked with interest: "Do you have a new scientific research experiment plan?"
Witten shook his head and said: "It's not me, but my newly recruited student."
"You want to apply for equipment for your students?" David Gross asked curiously.
Witten nodded and said: "Yes, he just sent me a very interesting paper. It is a method of calculating the proton radius from first principles. In the paper, he conducted a calculation on the previous proton radius data.
After analysis, the result of the radius of the proton was finally determined.”
"With the help of this paper, perhaps we can get a more accurate proton radius, instead of being faced with several numerical values like now, which is difficult to choose."
David Gross asked in surprise: "How to calculate the proton radius from first principles? He can also do this kind of thing."
Witten: "It is not completely first principles. It is mixed with a lot of previous proton observation data. It does not obtain a completely new proton radius data. It just confirms the previous controversial data."
"That's pretty awesome." David Gross praised.
But then he remembered something again and asked: "Didn't you just say that your student was studying mathematics with Deligne? How come you suddenly made results in physics?"
Witten smiled, took off his glasses and wiped them with the lens cloth he brought with him, and then said: "Yes, he is indeed learning some mathematics from Deligne now. This achievement was actually done before he came to Princeton.
Part of it."
"He is very talented in particle physics. He can do research independently without anyone's guidance. He can also integrate mathematics into physics and use mathematics to study physics. Such talent is very rare."
"When he came to Princeton before, he impressed me with this unfinished paper at that time. I told him that if he could complete this calculation method within a month and a half, then I could help him apply for a proton accelerator.
for verification.”
"Oh? Can I see the paper you mentioned?"
When Witten said this, David Gross also felt a little moved.
"Of course." Witten nodded and gave up his position.
Although the paper Xu Chuan sent him has not yet been officially published, Witten did not mind letting David Gross read it.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! In front of him, plagiarism is impossible. There are email records and original manuscript paper, even if it was published in advance by others, he
It also has the ability to have the manuscript rejected by any journal in the world, and subject plagiarists to the severest punishment.
Moreover, it is impossible for a Nobel Prize winner in physics to do such a thing.
Witten moved out of the way and David Gross sat over.
On the computer monitor on the conference table, Xu Chuan's calculation method was opened. Gross pulled it to the top and watched it developed from scratch.
A long time passed before David Gross adjusted his glasses and stood up again.
He said with some sigh: "This paper is indeed the essence, especially the mathematical methods and mathematical abilities displayed in it. No wonder you chose to be his teacher. His mathematical abilities are probably few in the entire physics community."
It’s something that an individual can compare to.”
Witten smiled and said: "Yes, it is rare for a physicist to have such mathematical abilities."
Hearing this, David Gross laughed and said: "That's not necessarily true. Didn't he originally study mathematics? Or is it difficult for a mathematician to have such physical abilities?"
Witten shrugged and said no more.
Although this is a bit heartbreaking, what Gross said is indeed true. Xu Chuan's grades in mathematics are far higher than those in physics.
........
on the arxiv preprint server.
The paper Xu Chuan posted attracted a lot of attention immediately.
The problem of the "proton radius mystery" has been a popular research direction in the physics community in recent years. Not only particle physicists, but also many other physicists have maintained their attention on it.
After all, the radius of the proton is related to the foundation of the building of physics.
If there are major changes in its precise information, it may affect the entire physical world.
This is a big deal.
Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Lucida Karas, professor of particle physics and nuclear physics, is browsing the arxiv webpage.
Finding useful things from the arxiv preprint server is one of his favorite things.
Although the content on the arxiv website, which is not peer-reviewed, is of varying quality, most of it is of little value.
But occasionally some good stuff comes out that makes people shine.
Finding these good things will give Luchida the pleasure of panning for gold in the sand.
After flipping through the papers and ideas in the areas of particle physics and nuclear physics, Lucida pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a little disappointed.
Today is another unproductive day.
But this is perfectly normal.
After all, even if you can find some good stuff on the arxiv preprint website, it is not available every day. Most of the time, the knowledge it contains is dregs.
Shaking her head, Lucida moved the mouse to the upper right corner, preparing to fork the webpage and go to lunch.
However, at this moment, his personal page suddenly received a reminder message from the arxiv website itself. The message came from the tag he followed - particle physics.
This means that someone has newly uploaded papers or ideas related to particle physics.
In the end, Lucida couldn't hold it back and clicked on the message, planning to go to eat after reading this new thing.
"The Mystery of Proton Radius--On a New Calculation Method of Proton Radius and Its Extended Significance"
When she saw the title, Lucida shook her head.
Although the problem of 'the mystery of the proton radius' is one of the hottest research subjects in the physics world today, simple calculation papers are of no use to it.
To solve this problem, major physical experimental research institutions can only use equipment such as proton accelerators or proton colliders to conduct experiments.
Just a calculation method is of little use in solving this problem.
Unless the calculation is based on first principles, it is indeed possible to directly calculate the radius of the proton by bypassing physical experiments.
But obviously, the thing posted on the arxiv website cannot be a calculation method based on first principles, because no one in the entire physics community can do this.
Unless Newton is resurrected, there is only a slight possibility.
Because this is actually a mathematical problem, not a physical problem.
Although physics research also requires the use of mathematics, not every physicist has advanced mathematics like Witten.
In fact, the mathematical abilities of most physicists are basically limited to applying the mathematical tools they need to solve their own physical problems, and many people are even unable to do this.
So Luchida was not very optimistic about this paper, but he still chose to open it.
Anyway, I have already seen it all, it won’t take long to take a look, and then go have a meal after watching it.
Then, he read this paper for a whole afternoon.
Not to mention lunch, he didn't even bother to eat dinner...
........
At Princeton University, Xu Chuan did not wait for a reply from Edward Witten, but instead waited for a call from the other side of the world.
The caller was his mentor at NTU, Chen Zhengping.
"That paper you sent me, the one about the mystery of the proton radius, have you solved it? Got the exact radius of the proton?"
When the call was connected, Chen Zhengping asked anxiously.
Xu Chuan smiled and said: "It is not that easy to solve the mystery of the proton radius, and the precise radius of the proton is not that easy to obtain. I just did some analysis based on previous experimental data to determine which of those experimental data is more accurate.
That’s all.”
On the other end of the phone, Chen Zhengping sighed: "That's not easy either."
After a pause, he continued: "When I suggested you try to solve this problem, I just wanted you to pay attention to physics. I didn't expect that you actually made achievements in this area."
Hearing this, Xu Chuan smiled. He was studying physics with Chen Zhengping, but ended up studying mathematics and proving a difficult mathematical problem. This must have made Chen Zhengping feel more melancholy.
"Have you shown this paper to your supervisor Witten? What did he say?"
On the other end of the phone, Chen Zhengping continued to ask.
He naturally knew that Xu Chuan had two mentors, and he was happy about it at the beginning. After all, both Witten and Deligne were top-notch talents.
One has won the Fields Medal as a physicist, and the other is a Grand Slam winner in mathematics. No one can dream of either of them, let alone both at the same time.
Become Xu Chuan’s mentor.
】
Chen Zhengping estimated that when Xu Chuan returns from his studies, the time may have to be delayed by two or three years. After all, these two people can teach a lot.
But this is not a bad thing, being able to learn more is the most important thing.
Xu Chuan nodded and said, "I sent it to him, but he is currently in a meeting at LHC and has not replied to my email yet."
"Well, then you just wait for him to reply. Oh, by the way, speaking of LHC, I have decided on a time. The experiment will start on the 18th of this month. Remember to ask for leave and buy tickets in advance.
"
On the other end of the phone, Chen Zhengping responded, and then explained the plan for the collision experiment in the middle of this month.
Xu Chuan nodded and said, "Okay, I will be there on time."
Even though Witten had agreed to apply for a proton accelerator for him to complete the mystery of the proton radius, Xu Chuan still didn't want to miss Chen Zhengping's experiment.
Not everyone has this opportunity to have access to first-hand collision experiment data.
There are endless secrets hidden in the data and energy spectrum images coming out of the collider. If you can find one, it will benefit you for life.
