Xu Chuan originally thought that Mr. Yang was trying to persuade him to delay the construction of the large powerful collider. Unexpectedly, after hearing his question, the old man fell silent.
In the living room, the atmosphere was quiet for a while before Mr. Yang breathed a long sigh of relief and said: "If you had asked me this question a few months ago, I would probably still be opposed to the construction."
"But today, to be honest, I am a little confused."
"Previously, research on the large collider has been going on for nearly a hundred years. After countless experiments and research, it is nearing completion and the standard model has been built."
"At that time, the remaining task was to verify the standard model and a few conjectures. And the risk of such research being fruitless was very high."
"Therefore, I think that without building a super large collider, there are still other directions in high-energy physics worth exploring. If this money is invested in other more practical research, the benefits may be more considerable and more practical.
feasible."
As he spoke, he looked at Xu Chuan, took a deep breath, and continued: "And at that time, I thought that I would only be able to see some things within the standard model in this life."
"I didn't expect you to bring a new dawn."
"I thought CERN could do it, but it turned out they couldn't do it."
"Now it seems that if we want to completely break the standard model in this era and find an existence beyond it, you probably have the hope."
"Maybe you haven't reached the top yet in theoretical physics, but the method you have established using mathematics is undoubtedly the most promising."
After a pause, he continued: "But now I still feel that spending 200 billion to build a large collider is a waste of time and money."
"Although controllable nuclear fusion has been realized under your leadership, the country still has a lot of infrastructure that needs to be built, and many places are still poor."
"No one knows how long it will take for breakthroughs in basic science, especially high-energy physics and particle physics, to be transformed into applied technology."
"In this regard, even if it reaches the top, it may not be able to surpass other countries by much."
After hearing Mr. Yang's words, Xu Chuan understood the complicated thoughts in this old man's heart.
In the past, he did resist the construction of the Large Strong Particle Collider, partly out of patriotism and not wanting to waste people and money.
After all, two hundred billion is a huge number for China, which has just entered the new century. Even in the 1990s, the country's total annual GDP was only a few trillion.
It is undoubtedly not worth spending a lot of money to build a basic scientific facility that cannot be transformed into the country's own strength or gains in a short period of time.
On the other hand, the path of high-energy physics can be said to have reached the end of this century before the emergence of sterile neutrinos.
Things within the standard model have been basically perfected, while things beyond the standard model have been impossible to observe in the past.
Under such circumstances, if we build a large strong particle collider, we will gain very little.
However, the situation has changed now. The emergence of sterile neutrinos, particles beyond the standard model, has shocked the entire physics world.
Things beyond the Standard Model are the hopes that the entire physics community has been pursuing.
It can help the scientific community gain a deeper understanding of the entire world and the entire universe.
Dark matter, dark energy, and how to incorporate gravity into the framework of quantum mechanics and physics all need to break through the standard model.
If this discovery is further confirmed, it means that basic physics, which has almost stalled for mankind, has taken a big step forward, and it also indicates that the universe has opened a new window to mankind.
Through this window, there will be a brand new physical world.
So Mr. Yang was now conflicted and confused.
On the one hand, as someone who came from the 1990s, he knows how difficult it is to develop the country’s economy, and 200 billion is not a small number.
On the other hand, it is the inner desire for a new world of physics.
After all, for a physicist, there is no device more fascinating than the Large Strong Particle Collider.
.......
After thinking about this clearly, Xu Chuan smiled and said: "The construction of a large strong particle collider is itself a suggestion I made to the superiors."
"If you want to ask me for my opinion, I will naturally support it with all my strength."
"I believe you know very well, Mr. Yang, how important the Large Strong Particle Collider is to the development of high-energy physics and particle physics."
"As for funding, although 200 billion is a lot of funding, it will definitely be worth it if it is used to open a new world in physics."
"What's more, controllable nuclear fusion technology has been realized. In the energy sector alone, the annual savings are at least trillions, and 200 billion is just a fraction."
Mr. Yang glanced at him and said softly: "But it is undeniable that this is not a small amount. With a capital of 200 billion, this kind of project is a super project in the world. Can you control it?"
"
Xu Chuan coughed lightly and said with a smile: "If we follow the previous exchange rate, 200 billion RMB is actually only 30 billion rice gold."
"For me, the investment in the controllable nuclear fusion project alone is almost 80 billion meters of gold. When converted, it is almost 550 billion."
As soon as these words were spoken, the living room suddenly became quiet.
Everyone then remembered that although the man in front of them looked young, the projects and funds he had passed through were already beyond their reach.
Just one controllable nuclear fusion project is worth two and a half Large Strong Particle Collider projects.
The big projects and big numbers in their eyes are just commonplace for this person.
With a slightly embarrassed expression, Mr. Qiu forced to break the awkward atmosphere and laughed twice before speaking: "I forgot about this. For you, two hundred billion is indeed not too much."
On the side, Mr. Yang didn't pay much attention. He nodded and said, "Since you have the confidence and ability, I'll leave this matter to you."
After a pause, he continued: "Honestly, for someone like me who has already stepped into the soil with one foot, no one knows whether I will be able to open my eyes and see the sun tomorrow. Maybe I can't hold on to see the sun.
The new world has appeared."
Mr. Yang's words immediately resonated with the other two elderly people in the living room.
Even Mr. Qiu, the youngest, is already over seventy years old.
Not to mention Mr. Yang, after the last few days of this year, he has entered the centenary mark.
Although Xu Chuan fully understood it, he could feel it more or less.
On the side, Pan Deming, who had been silent all this time, said: "It doesn't matter if you can't see it. There are people who will succeed you, and science is always moving forward. That's enough."
After a slight pause, he changed the subject and said, "Speaking of which, it's just the right time for you to come. I was chatting with Xu Chuan about his research before."
"He encountered a very troublesome problem in the strongly correlated electron system. Lao Yang, you are engaged in condensed matter physics. Do you want to know more about it?"
Hearing this, Mr. Yang raised his head curiously and looked over, with some interest in his cloudy eyes, and asked: "Strongly correlated electronic system? What's the problem?"
Xu Chuan coughed slightly and said: "I made an unexpected discovery while studying KL-66 before, so I won't bother you, Mr. Yang."
"What? Do you look down on me, a bad old man who is about to be buried?" Mr. Yang said with a more passionate tone, staring at Xu Chuan and said: "I still have some knowledge in condensed matter physics research."
Xu Chuan was a little dumbfounded. The older this person got, the weirder and more competitive his personality became. It was absolutely true.
But then again, there are not many scholars in China who can communicate with him about condensed matter physics research.
Since we happened to meet each other, Mr. Pan even took the initiative to bring it up so that we could communicate.
After thinking for a while, he briefly talked about his research these days.
On the side, Mr. Qiu also came over to listen. Although it was a physics question and he was a mathematician, mathematics and physics were often similar, not to mention his physics ability was not low.
You must know that he is the only person in the history of Harvard University who serves as a professor in the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Physics. Although condensed matter physics is not within the scope of his research, he still knows something about it.
After listening to Xu Chuan's question, Mr. Yang frowned and thought for a while and then said: "Strongly correlated electrons generally refer to substances in which the interaction between electrons is much greater than their kinetic energy. These systems have very rich physical phenomena.
, such as high-temperature superconductivity, giant magnetoresistance, metal-insulator transition and other directions."
"Although I have paid attention to the KL-66 material developed by South Korea, I am older and have not conducted experiments or understood it in detail."
"Without seeing specific experimental data, judging from what you said, if you want to use this system to calculate the critical magnetic field strength of enhanced superconducting materials, it should be possible in theory.
, but it may be very difficult.”
"If Green's function method, density functional theory, dynamic mean field theory and other methods cannot be applied normally, the first thing I can think of is that the problem you are studying has gone beyond the ordinary strongly correlated electron system and entered the
A non-equilibrium strongly correlated system.”
"Maybe you can try this."
Hearing this, Xu Chuan thought for a moment and asked: "Study the electron dynamics behavior of strongly correlated systems in non-equilibrium states?"
This is indeed a path that he has not studied yet.
Mr. Yang nodded and said, "I don't know if you have studied this. If not, you can try it."
After a slight pause, he continued: "In addition, maybe you can consider the direction of the strongly correlated electron system and the strong interaction force. It may have nothing to do with this, but it may help you better understand the electrons in the strongly correlated system.
properties and interaction properties.”
.......
PS: There will be another chapter tonight, please vote for me.
