After staring at the assistant for a while, Professor Fefferman, holding the coffee in his hand, sighed as if giving up.
After returning to his desk and sitting down, Professor Fefferman took out his mobile phone from his pocket, opened his address book, and called his PhD and teaching assistant.
After hearing the content of the paper, Wei Wen took a breath, and the shock in his heart was beyond words.
Wei Wen looked slightly moved.
Princeton.
This type of double-blind review occasionally occurs.
He finally knew why Sanak insisted on giving this paper to him for review.
Office of the Institute for Advanced Study.
Maybe, this is a cultural difference.
Although he could probably feel that Professor Fefferman really told him not to pay too much attention, he felt even more ashamed for this favor.
"… nothing."
There was going to be class soon, and Fefferman couldn't spare the time to read it carefully, so he just flipped through it twice.
Challenge two Millennium Puzzles in a row...
This was my first year away from Princeton.
"What's wrong, Professor?"
Let me take a look.
At this moment, there was a knock on the door, and soon a young man with glasses and a good-looking face walked in.
"Do you have an idea?"
Noticing the change in his expression, Wei Wen hesitated and asked.
It was after becoming a disciple of Professor Witten that he finally understood why Professor Lu's senior brother Luo had been unable to graduate successfully for so many years. And he finally realized how much Professor Lu, who usually took the trouble to guide them to complete their studies, took great care of them.
Walking next to him with two cups of coffee, Professor Fefferman then placed a cup of coffee next to him and asked in a gentle tone.
Around 2019, after leaving Princeton, Lu Zhou introduced him to Professor Edward Witten to engage in research in mathematical physics.
After staring at the paper for a while, Professor Fefferman suddenly smiled and shook his head.
"Then please remember to tell him for me. This way of expression is not tactful enough at all. I hope that next time he can send the review invitation to my mailbox together with the paper instead of sending it over like a drop-in." Looking at the person Professor Fefferman, who was at a loss what to do, shrugged and said, "...Besides, I have a vacation in two days, so please find someone else."
Is this still human
Seeing that Professor Fefferman agreed, the assistant immediately handed the paper over with a smile and said, "Okay, Professor."
After the paper was delivered, the assistant did not stay in the office longer and left here quickly.
But these are not the point.
"No, thank you. You have provided me with enough help... If you give me another ten minutes, I feel that I will almost find the answer, just a little bit closer."
Have your attainments in mathematics improved or regressed...
However, studying for a Ph.D. under a great master is not an easy task. This excitement did not last long, and he gradually began to feel tired.
When he first studied for his Ph.D. under Professor Witten, Wei Wen was quite excited.
After explaining the matter clearly, he hung up the phone and put the phone on his desk.
For example, entrust him to a scholar he knows...
Wei Wen said ashamedly: "I'm sorry for taking up so much of your time."
Looking at the paper placed on the table, excitement gradually began to flash in his pupils.
"It's okay. I haven't been very busy recently." After taking a sip of coffee, Professor Fefferman smiled casually and said, "What's more, Professor Lu also helped me a lot. He is not here now. If you have anything, Ask me the same question."
Wei Wen laughed bitterly in his heart, but did not speak.
"Professor Lu's thesis?"
"Very important."
"I'm afraid ten minutes is not enough time, let's go to two hours," Professor Fefferman glanced at the watch on his wrist and continued, "I will have a class on differential equations later. Until six o'clock, you will You can find me in the office of the dean of the Department of Mathematics at Princeton University.”
Fefferman roughly guessed that either the contributor was an acquaintance of his own, or a colleague working at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton or a nearby university.
But soon, he let out a light sigh, and his relaxed brows wrinkled slightly.
"Not yet."
Wei Wen, sitting at his desk, was staring at the draft paper on the desk and thinking hard.
Even though it has been more than a year since he graduated, when he encounters an unsolvable problem, he will still help him find a solution.
Anyone who works in the field of mathematical physics, or even knows something about this field, has probably not heard of Witten’s name.
As if it confirmed his guess, the man shook the paper in his hand and spoke. "Professor Fefferman, Professor Sanak from the editorial office of "Annals of Mathematics" asked me to bring this paper to you. He asked me to convey to you tactfully that he hopes that you will serve as the reviewer of this paper. "
Because he often visits CERN, Witten spends less than one-third of his time in Princeton a year. So much of the time, he had to face academic difficulties alone.
"Do you need help?"
Wei Wen shook his head, stared at the lines of calculations on the paper, and continued to compete.
"L manifold... and the partial differential geometry method of partial differential equations," Professor Fefferman smiled as his index finger swept across the ink-printed A4 paper, and said with some emotion in his tone, "Can this be combined with There is only one person who has applied the theory to this extent.”
"Mr. Sarnak expected that you would say this," the assistant continued. "He asked me to tell you that you are the most suitable person. Only you have the ability to review this paper."
"Hey, Lewis, are you free now? There is a class on partial differential equations in about half an hour. Whether you are free now or not, I hope you or you can help me find someone to take it for me."
"Proof of the existence of solutions to the Yang-Mills equation? Shouldn't this kind of paper be shown to Witten? I bet he is more interested in it than me."
"Yes," Professor Fefferman nodded and continued, "The existence of a solution to the Yang-Mills equation was proved. It seems that he has not stopped moving forward in mathematics."
There are no names on the paper.
Seeing this "exaggerated" title, Fefferman raised his eyebrows slightly and continued reading with interest.
He had never been particularly good at turning down requests from others, especially those coming from his area of expertise.
It seemed that he recognized him, especially when he saw the stack of A4 paper in his hand, Fefferman's face suddenly showed a somewhat troubled expression.
"Okay, take it over here."
"...Well, I have something going on here."
Even if he roughly guesses who the author is from the style of the paper, he will not hesitate to review the manuscript because of his acquaintance.
Three sentences in total.