Great Country Academician

Europe, Atomic Energy Experiments Agency Centre.

A collision meeting is held here, setting up the LHC's work for the next six months.

"If there is no objection, the work arrangement for the second half of this year from July 15th to December 1st will be carried out according to the form in your hand."

In the empty conference room, David Gross, the chairman of the LHC Council, who was wearing rimless glasses, adjusted his glasses and glanced at the entire conference room.

In fact, these work arrangements have already been discussed and debated, and it will be mentioned again at the council just to go through the process.

After all, the LHC is the largest large-scale strong particle collider in the world today, and every operation and collision experiment of it may bring about Nobel Prize-level results.

Coupled with its large number of member states, it can be said that the interests involved behind it are extremely complicated.

In the conference room, applause rang out. David Gross showed a funny-looking smile, not on purpose, but that's how he laughed.

"Okay, that's all for today's meeting, everyone dismisses the meeting."

There was a rustling sound, and many council members and participants left one after another.

"Hey Witten, how about a cup of coffee?"

After packing up the meeting materials on the table, the chairman of the board, David Gross, saw Edward Witten who hadn't left yet. He was concentrating on something at the moment.

Hearing the voice, Edward Witten replied without raising his head: "You go, I still have something to do here."

"What are you looking at, so serious."

Witten's rapt attention aroused the curiosity of David Gross, the director of the LHC, and walked over.

However, he didn't go to look at the things on the computer without authorization. After all, everyone has their own privacy and secrets, and some of them 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 your knowledge this time?"

"He's studying mathematics with Deligne now."

"Deligne? Viscount Pierre Deligne?" David Gross asked in surprise.

Wei Teng 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 even more curious, and asked with surprise on his face: "It's unbelievable that the two of you actually accepted the same person as a student. What is his background?"

Witten: "The Weyl-Berry conjecture, the most important discovery in the mathematics field last year, was proved by him."

"In addition, the calculation method of astronomical parameters, which is currently being reviewed by the journal "Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics", which the astrophysical community holds the greatest attention today, is also his result."

"It turned out to be him, a genius boy from that eastern country."

David Gross suddenly understood why Witten and Deligne would accept someone as a student at the same time.

For others, this is almost impossible, but it is nothing to a genius who can solve world-class mathematical conjectures at the age of eighteen.

"Mr. Chairman, I need to apply for the medium-sized proton synchrotron in the center of the experimental institution this month." Wei Teng said.

"SPS?"

Wei Teng nodded and said, "Yes, does it have any experimental arrangements for this month?"

David Gross thought for a while and said: "There must be arrangements. There is an experiment application from Oxford University, the 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?"

Wei Teng 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.

Wei Teng nodded and said: "Yes, he just sent me a very interesting paper, which is a method of calculating the proton radius from the first principles. In the paper, he carried out the previous proton radius data. analysis, and finally determined the result of the radius of the proton."

"With the help of this paper, perhaps we can get a more accurate proton radius, instead of being difficult to choose between several values ​​as it is now."

David Gross asked in surprise: "How to calculate the proton radius from first principles? He can do this kind of thing too."

Wei Teng: "It's not completely first principles. A lot of previous proton observation data have been mixed in the middle, and a new proton radius data has not been obtained. It just confirmed the previous controversial data."

"That's amazing, too," David Gross exclaimed.

But then he remembered something again, and asked: "Didn't you just say that your student is studying mathematics with Deligne? Why did you suddenly achieve results in physics?"

Witten smiled, took off his glasses and wiped them with the lens cloth he carried with him, and continued: "Yes, he is indeed learning some mathematics from Deligne now, and this achievement was actually done before he came to Princeton. part of it."

"He is very talented in particle physics. He can conduct independent research without anyone teaching him, and he can also integrate mathematics into physics and use mathematics to study physics. Such a talent is very rare."

"When he came to Princeton before, he was impressed by this unfinished thesis at that time. I told him that if he can complete this calculation method within one and a half months, then I can help him apply for the proton accelerator. for checking."

"Oh? Can I have a look at that paper you're talking about?"

After Witten said this, David Gross was also a little moved.

"Of course." Wei Teng nodded and gave up his seat.

Although the paper Xu Chuan sent to him has not yet been officially published, Witten does not mind letting David Gross read it.

In front of him, such things as plagiarism cannot happen. With mailbox records and original manuscript paper and other things, even if it is published in advance by others, he has the ability to reject any journal in the world and make plagiarists suffer the most. Severe 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 down.

On the computer screen of the conference table, Xu Chuan’s calculation method was opened, and Gross pulled it to the top to develop it from scratch.

A long time passed before David Gross adjusted his glasses and stood up again.

He sighed a little: "The essence of this paper is indeed, especially the mathematical methods and mathematical abilities displayed in it. No wonder you choose to be his teacher. His mathematical ability is probably not very good in the entire physics world." Individuals can match."

Wei Teng smiled and said: "Yes, it is very rare for a physicist to have such mathematical ability."

Hearing this, David Gross laughed and said, "That's not necessarily the case. Didn't he study mathematics at first? Or is it difficult for a mathematician to possess such physical abilities?"

Witten shrugged and said nothing.

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.

Xu Chuan's dissertation attracted the attention of many people in the first place.

The problem of "proton radius mystery" has been a hot research direction in the physics field in recent years. Not only particle physicists, but also many other physicists have kept paying attention to it.

After all, something like the radius of a proton is related to the base of the building of physics.

A major change in its precise information could affect the entire physics community.

This is a big deal.

Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Niels Bohr Institute.

Lushida Callas, a professor of particle and nuclear physics, browses Arxiv.

Finding useful stuff from the Arxiv preprint server is one of his favorite things to do.

While the quality of stuff on the non-peer-reviewed Arxiv site varies, most of it is of little value.

But every once in a while there's something good that catches the eye.

Finding these good things will give Lu Xida the pleasure of panning for gold in the sand.

Flipping through the papers and ideas in the areas of particle physics and nuclear physics, Lu Xida pinched the bridge of her nose, a little disappointed.

Today is another day with no gains.

But that's perfectly normal.

After all, even if some good things can be found on the Arxiv preprint website, it is not every day. Most of the time it has dross of knowledge.

Shaking her head, Lushida moved the mouse to the upper right corner, ready to fork off the webpage and go to lunch.

However, at this moment, his personal page suddenly received a reminder message from the Arxiv website itself, and the message came from the tag he followed—particle physics.

This means that someone has uploaded a new paper or idea related to particle physics.

In the end, Lu Xida still couldn't hold back, and clicked on the message, planning to go to dinner after watching this new thing.

"The Mystery of Proton Radius--On a New Calculation Method and Its Extended Significance of Proton Radius"

Seeing the title, Lu Xida shook her head.

Although the problem of the "proton radius mystery" is one of the hottest research objects in the physics world today, pure calculation papers are of no use to it at all.

To solve this problem, major physical experiment research institutions can only conduct experiments with equipment such as proton accelerators or proton colliders.

Just a calculation method is not very useful for solving this problem.

Unless it is a calculation based on the first principles, it can indeed directly bypass the physical experiment to calculate the radius of the proton.

But obviously, this thing posted on the Arxiv website obviously cannot be a calculation method from first principles, because no one in the entire physics community can do this.

Unless it is Newton's resurrection, there is such a slight possibility.

Because this is actually a math problem, not a physics problem.

Although physics research also requires the use of mathematics, not every physicist has advanced mathematics like Witten.

In fact, the mathematical ability of most physicists is basically limited to applying the mathematical tools they need to solve their own physical problems, and even many people cannot do this.

So Lu Xida was not very optimistic about this paper, but he still chose to open it.

Anyway, I've seen it all, and it won't take long to take a look at it. I'll go to dinner after watching it.

Then, he read this paper for a whole afternoon.

Let alone lunch, he didn't bother to eat dinner.

At Princeton University, Xu Chuan did not wait for Edward Witten's reply, but instead waited for a call from the other side of the world.

It was his mentor at Nantah University, Chen Zhengping, who called.

"The paper you sent me, the one on the proton radius puzzle, you solved? Got the exact radius of the proton?"

When the phone was connected, Chen Zhengping asked anxiously.

Xu Chuan smiled and said: "It is not so easy to solve the mystery of the proton radius, and it is not so easy to obtain the precise radius of the proton. I just did some analysis based on the 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."

After a pause, he continued: "At the beginning I suggested you try to solve this problem, but I just wanted you to pay attention to physics. I didn't expect you to actually make achievements in this area."

Hearing this, Xu Chuan smiled. He was studying physics with Chen Zhengping at the time, but he learned and ran to do mathematics. He also proved a mathematical problem, which must have made Chen Zhengping feel very sad.

"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 are top-notch experts.

One has won the Fields Medal as a physicist, and the other is a Grand Slam winner in mathematics. Neither of these two people can even dream of, let alone two people at the same time. Be Xu Chuan's mentor.

Chen Zhengping reckoned that when Xu Chuan returned from his studies, the time may be delayed by two or three years. After all, these two people can teach a lot.

But this is not a bad thing, the most important thing is to learn more.

Xu Chuan nodded, and said, "I sent it to him, but he is currently in a meeting at the LHC, and hasn't replied to my email yet."

"Well, then you can wait for his reply. Oh, yes, speaking of the LHC, my time has been set. 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'll be there on time."

Even though Witten had agreed to apply for a proton accelerator to perfect the mystery of the proton radius for him, Xu Chuan still didn't want to miss Chen Zhengping's experiment.

Not everyone has the 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, and if one can be found, it will be beneficial for life.