Chapter 749: Unification of the Strong Nuclear Force and Electroweak Theory (1)
At a time when the world of physics is saddened by the passing of a great scholar.
On the other side, Jinling.
In the villas at the foot of Purple Mountain, Xu Chuan was shutting himself in his study, concentrating on studying the mathematical unity of the three forces of strong and weak electricity.
In the manuscript that Professor Higgs sent him, there were some ideas and directions that he had never seen before and had never thought of.
If you walk along these points, you won't necessarily be able to unify the strong electricity, but if you continue on this road for a while, there shouldn't be too many problems.
So far, humans have recognized four basic interacting forces in nature.
They are gravity, electromagnetic force, weak force and strong force.
The intensity of these four forces varies widely, and their scope of action is also different.
If the magnitude of the force is represented by a coupling constant with one dimension, the coupling constant of the strong force is 100 times that of the electromagnetic force, 10 times that of the weak force, and even reaches an astronomical 103 times compared with gravity.
Gravity and electromagnetic force are both long-range forces, while the weak force and the strong force are short-range forces, acting within a distance of 10ˉ1?m and 10ˉ1?m respectively.
Although the properties of these four forces are very different, they are all physically described by field theory, and their unification is naturally also the unification of the field theory description method.
In quantum field theory, like electromagnetic interaction, the strong force that restrains protons and neutrons in the nucleus and the weak force that causes the beta decay process in nucleons are gauge interactions, and they satisfy their respective gauge symmetries.
Mathematically, the four major forces are all described by gauge groups. Therefore, gauge symmetry plays an important role in the attempt to seek quantum theory and unified forces for various interactions in nature.
After entering the 21st century, the electroweak unified theory and quantum chromodynamics (QCD), which describes the strong interaction, together constitute the standard model of particle physics.
From a particle physics perspective, the Standard Model can be said to be the most successful theory in the history of physics.
However, in contrast, the standard model also has many shortcomings.
The biggest flaw is naturally pointed out by Weinberg, one of its founders: "The Standard Model cannot unify gravity, and its description of gravity has insurmountable mathematical obstacles."
However, for today's physics community, this point can actually be put aside for the time being.
Quite simply, because what is the nature of gravity is a question that has not been clearly explained for hundreds of years. So far, the physics community has not been able to give an accurate answer to the nature of gravity.
Currently, the mainstream explanation point in the physics community is that proposed by Einstein: the essence of gravity is the curvature of space-time.
In addition, there are also views such as the universal gravitation proposed by Newton and the gravity in quantum mechanics caused by the exchange of gravitons between two particles.
But there is still no accurate answer to what the nature of gravity is.
Therefore, before the essence of gravity is specified, it is impossible to unify it into the standard model, or to build a new model to unify gravity.
And if we put aside gravity, which is a mathematical obstacle that is difficult to solve and is the biggest flaw in the Standard Model, then it is naturally the turn of the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, and the unification of the electromagnetic force.
In this regard, the Standard Model has already given physical answers.
The electroweak unified theory and quantum chromodynamics are merged into one in the standard model, and fermions and bosons are paired through gauge field theory to describe the force between fermions.
Simply put, the gauge transformation of gauge bosons can be accurately described by a unitary group called the "gauge group".
The gauge group of the strong interaction is SU(3), and the gauge group of the electroweak interaction is SU(2)xU(1). Therefore, the standard model is also called SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1).
But unfortunately, even if quantum theory unifies the strong nuclear force and the electroweak theory, how to complete this work mathematically is still an elusive idea.
.......
As a physicist, Xu Chuan has never stopped researching the unification of the strong nuclear force and electroweak theory in his entire life.
And even so, even though he has already stood at the pinnacle of the physics world, he still doesn't have many ideas about unifying the two.
Although the mathematics he studied in this life once brought him many glory and solved many problems, such as Hodge's conjecture, NS equations and other millennium problems, he seemed to have no hope of breaking through his previous boundaries in the frontier of physics.
It doesn't feel like it's very helpful.
This made him feel that mathematics was not very useful in this aspect when he was studying the unification of the three forces in the past two years. He had some doubts that top mathematics could help him find a real path before the experiment.
This idea has been filling his mind in the past two years, and it is one of the reasons why he has not re-entered the field of mathematics after completing the Yang-Mills existence and mass gap problems.
If he said this, he might be criticized to death, and more people might think he was showing off.
After all, after the Yang-Mills existence and mass gap problems, he solved the weak Riemann hypothesis, the top problem in analytic number theory.
But the real situation is indeed the same as what he had in mind. The research on the weak Riemann hypothesis was actually an unexpected inspiration obtained during the study of Einstein's Rosen Bridge.
The reason why he wanted to study Einstein's Rosen Bridge was not only because the concept of space holes was attractive, but also because he wanted to prove that his original choice was correct.
Mathematics has a ground-breaking help in the research of top physics.
Now, he may be able to answer this answer!
...
In the study, Xu Chuan stared at the manuscript paper in front of him and muttered softly unconsciously.
"As we all know, in quantum field theory, the strength of a force depends on the mass and coupling constant of the medium particle of the force. The mass comes from the spontaneous breaking of symmetry; the coupling constant is a number that appears in the basic equations of the theory, describing the medium
The intensity with which particles are emitted and absorbed in a reaction..."
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! "From the perspective of the energy level where electroweak symmetry is broken, supersymmetry provides a framework that can describe fermions and bosons. It is on the usual four-dimensional space-time
An additional four-dimensional hyperspace is added to accommodate the strange geometric properties of fermions."
"So when the strong nuclear force breaks down, the key lies in the free asymptotic movement of quarks."
"..."
The knowledge in his memory that was impossible for him to forget gathered into small streams at this moment, converging along the physical high ground towards the final pass, gathering bit by bit under the city wall, rushing towards the city wall.
A holy place to rock this building of physics.
Just when Xu Chuan was in retreat studying the unification of the strong nuclear force and the electroweak theory, a call came to his mobile phone on the third day.
Although when researching a certain problem, his mobile phone will be adjusted to working mode, thereby blocking most people's calls.
However, considering some emergencies, some relatives and friends are still placed on the white list.
For these relatives and friends, as long as they make two consecutive calls, the incoming call will pass the work mode review and enter their sight.
Picking up the cell phone placed at the corner of the desk, Xu Chuan glanced at the caller ID and saw that the call was from Edward Witten.
"Hey, mentor, what's the matter?"
Turning his eyes back to the manuscript paper on the desk, he asked casually.
"The time for Professor Higgs' condolence meeting has been set. Just three days later, the University of Edinburgh cannot contact you. I would like to ask through my help if you will go there?"
On the phone, Edward Witten's voice came from the other side of the world.
For the physics community, Professor Higgs can be said to be one of the most influential scholars in contemporary theoretical physics and particle physics. His death is a great loss to the academic community and even the world.
In view of the influence of Professor Higgs, his alma mater, the University of Edinburgh, decided to hold a memorial service at the University of Edinburgh after consulting his immediate family members.
Among the invited scholars, Xu Chuan, who is the youngest Nobel Prize winner, was naturally among them. However, by the time the administrator of the University of Edinburgh confirmed it, he had already entered research mode and his mobile phone had been adjusted to work mode, so naturally he could not receive the call from the other party.
contact.
Therefore, the University of Edinburgh contacted Xu Chuan's former mentor, Edward Witten of Princeton, hoping that he could help convey the news and inquire whether he would come to attend the condolence meeting.
Hearing Witten's inquiry, Xu Chuan fell silent.
To be honest, he should go to this mourning meeting.
Although Professor Higgs was not his nominal mentor, he could be considered a real mentor after imparting knowledge to him in the fields of particle physics and high energy physics in his previous life.
And in this life, when the two of them had never met each other, they chose to leave their thoughts on the unified theory of strong electricity, dark matter, gravity, and Einstein Rosen Bridge (space void) to him.
.
This is a valuable asset that cannot be measured in terms of money, and it is very likely that it has never been published to the outside world.
If Professor Higgs leaves it to future generations or other scholars, it is entirely possible to create a scholar with a great reputation based on this.
But he still gave it to himself thousands of miles away.
This kind of kindness can no longer be repaid personally.
And he should go to Professor Higgs's memorial service.
However.....
Thinking about the nonsense in his mind, Xu Chuan sighed softly, and after a moment of silence, he said with difficulty: "I'm sorry, mentor, I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to get out."
"I can only arrange for someone who can represent me to attend the condolence meeting. I am really sorry."
Edward Witten nodded and said, "Well, I can understand."
Although academia is far away from those dirty things, it does not mean that Witten does not understand these things.
Sometimes, being too talented is an unfortunate thing.
But fortunately, he, a student, was born in a country capable of protecting him. Otherwise, with his achievements today, he would either immigrate and become a talent from other countries, or...
With a slight sigh, Witten didn't think much, and changed the subject smoothly and asked: "By the way, how is the construction status of CRHPC?"
Staring at the manuscript paper in front of him, Xu Chuan replied without hesitation: "The final work is already in progress. It is estimated that it will be completed around September in the second half of this year and the test work will officially start."
Hearing this, Witten showed a surprised expression on his face, and said in amazement: "If I remember correctly, your CRHPC construction work only officially started the year before last, right? It has only taken more than two years, and it is almost completed.
Understand?"
Feeling the surprise in Witten's words, Xu Chuan smiled and said proudly: "China is a powerful country, and it is also the country with the rarest mobilization ability. It took more than two years to complete the construction of the CRHPC collider. This
It’s not something that’s impossible to do.”
“But it’s so incredible!”
Witten sighed with emotion, and then said: "I thought you would be far behind CERN's progress, but I didn't expect that now it seems that you are only three months behind at most."
Hearing Wei Teng's emotion, Xu Chuan raised his eyebrows, a little surprised.
"Mentor, are you sure the LHC upgrade can be completed in June?"
Since the stalemate with CERN, with the support of the United States, the European Atomic Energy Center has launched a competition with China in the fields of particle physics and high-energy physics.
The LHC upgrade work started earlier than China, trying to preemptively launch the detection of sterile neutrinos and dark matter around the upgraded high-brightness LH-LHC.
But given the personalities of Europeans and Americans, it is still very difficult to complete the upgrade of the LHC in a short period of time.
After all, the last upgrade of the LHC took more than two years, and this was even when the superconducting pipeline and some detectors were not moved.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click the next page to continue reading the exciting content! And this time, when the superconducting pipeline, accelerator complex, detector and even supercomputer all need to be upgraded, it’s really hard to know how long it will take.
Easy to say.
After all, as the U.S. economy further declines, given its current situation, it may cut off the supply of LHC upgrades at any time and instead leave this mess to Europe.
But now it seems that China is forcing it in the fields of controllable nuclear fusion and aerospace. Bald Eagle has gritted its teeth and persevered in upgrading the LHC, and the progress is quite optimistic.
Witten nodded and said: "Well, judging from CERN's last press conference, they expect to complete the LHC upgrade before June, and will then start further exploration of sterile neutrinos and dark matter.
"
Xu Chuan smiled and said, "Congratulations to them then."
Witten asked curiously: "Aren't you worried that the confirmation of sterile neutrinos and dark matter will be completed first by CERN?"
For the physics community, 12 years after the detection of the God particle, the Higgs particle, the last important piece of the standard model puzzle has been completed.
And all the subsequent exploration work of LHC is just tinkering with this building.
It was not until 2017 that he, a student, detected traces of the existence of sterile neutrinos and warm dark matter, and physics opened up a new direction.
This is a particle that goes beyond the standard model and is of great significance to the physics community and even the world.
Whoever can be the first to confirm the remaining morphological data of sterile neutrinos, and who can be the first to find data on the existence of dark matter, will take the lead in future development.
If this were not the case, the United States and Europe would not bite the bullet and follow China's footsteps and invest heavily in strong particle collider.
After all, this is a brand new field. If we fall behind, it will mean that future high-energy physics and particle physics, and even half of theoretical physics, will be surrendered.
