"This is not a fatal mistake. Although we cannot explain this problem, at least we used the scalar field on the space-time manifold to calculate the mass m of the particle, and the computer simulation results are basically consistent... Maybe our argument process exists Loopholes, but at least no one can prove us wrong.”
At present, it is impossible to win the Nobel Prize through M theory. After all, this theory has no hope of being verified for at least a century. However, string theory is not the only thing worth pursuing in the world of theoretical physics, and there is not only one path to a grand unified theory.
Throwing the manuscript paper to the ground, Professor Brian clenched his fists. In the end, he did not punch the table because he was worried about hurting himself.
Aging is a sad topic.
The twisted face was filled with anger.
Goddard did not speak, but stretched out his index finger, touched the coffee cup lightly, and took a silent sip.
After hearing this, Professor Brian's expression softened a little, but it was still not very friendly.
"Damn it!"
In the past two days, he has not been in a hurry to return to CERN. Instead, he has been exchanging ideas with Dean Goddard about the new idea of "solving the mass gap problem from the perspective of string theory." However, it seems that the discussions in the past two days have Some are unnecessary.
Staring at the paper on the screen with dissatisfied eyes, Professor Brian gritted his teeth and said: "Contact the reporter from the BBC for me. I must let everyone know that this unscrupulous guy did it behind the scenes. What a shameless act!”
Especially for them who regard academics as life.
There was a roar like thunder in the office, and Professor Brian stood up from his chair angrily.
He was very aware of Witten's weaknesses. He clearly opened the era of string theory, but failed to win the Nobel Prize. This matter has always made him worried.
"You mean Professor Brian Carlo's proof? Wasn't that proven wrong?"
The preprint posted by Lu Zhou also quoted Jaffe's paper published in the "Academic Annals" and the asymptotic expansion of mass m with respect to λ!
Before starting to work, Professor Brian got up and walked to the coffee machine next to the cupboard and made himself a cup of coffee.
After being stunned for a moment, Professor Brian wondered who was so stubborn, so he clicked on the paper.
Sitting opposite Witten, Goddard took a sip of coffee and said as if he expected it.
The assistant standing nearby observed his expression and saw that the time seemed to be almost there, so he hesitated for a while and spoke to comfort him.
After returning to his desk and sitting down, before starting to solve this problem, he planned to set a modified status for the paper hanging on Arxiv.
However, when he logged into the Arxiv website, he found that there was a new paper posted in the tag he was tracking, and it turned out to be the mass gap of the Yang-Mills equation, a proposition that he claimed to have proved.
On the asphalt in front of a nearby café, two PhDs in theoretical physics walked side by side with books tucked under their elbows. Judging from the content of the conversation between the two, they probably just came out of the library and were about to return to the dormitory.
"There is still a meeting at CERN the day after tomorrow." Witten looked at his watch and looked up at Dean Goddard. "So, now that the quality gap issue has been resolved, do we still need to continue discussing it?"
Such troublesome things as revising the paper, lengthy debates and communication with the review team are usually carried out during the review process of journal submissions.
Especially when he is angry, if someone irritates him, as long as this person is still in Oxford University, he will never have a good life.
Witten, wearing sunglasses, smiled as he looked at the young people hurriedly passing by on the roadside.
Looking blankly at the professor who stood up, the assistant sitting at the desk next to him just said half a sentence, but he swallowed it back.
As scholars from all over the world leave one after another, the academic atmosphere on campus has returned to its former tranquility.
"professor-"
He understood it all.
"Lu? That Lu from Jinling University?"
His chest rose and fell. After a while, Professor Brian finally calmed down a little.
Their time has passed...
"Okay, boys, get ready to work... The professor from Asia is right, this loophole is critical. If there is no way to prove that the grid step size approaches the zero limit, it will have a fatal flaw in our proof. It would be a good thing to discover this vulnerability early."
However, he never expected that a well-known scholar like Lu Zhou would do such a thing!
"Don't say it's me, do you have the confidence?"
…
Prove that the idea is the same as his
His brows gradually widened, Professor Brian took a deep breath, raised his head and cheered up again, cleared his throat and spoke.
Seeing the furious Professor Brian, the office was completely silent, no one dared to make a sound.
"Don't you know? He posted the preprint on Arxiv last night. At three o'clock in the morning, my professor tweeted 'Unbelievable'. When I woke up in the morning, I ran to like it."
After all, Professor Lu, who has always been known for his rigor, released a preprint.
"This makes no sense... Computer simulation results are not always convincing, especially on this kind of problem." Professor Brian put his index finger and thumb on his eyebrows. After thinking for a long time with a headache on his face, Professor Brian finally said. , "But you are right. At least no one can prove us wrong, but it is not perfect yet."
After hearing Professor Brian's words, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and the office became busy again.
However…
Goddard: "Although the problem of mass gap has been solved, the problem related to strong interaction and electromagnetic interaction has not been solved. Aren't you interested in the Nobel Prize?"
"It seems that Professor Lu got there first."
Why was a "nobody" from Jinling University appearing at the scene
The topic quickly moved from quantum chromodynamics to the latest research on gauge field theory.
Lu.Zhou? !
However, the mouse didn't matter at all. The moment he saw the title and author of the paper, he was immediately shocked.
The report meeting ended in failure.
It turns out that everything was foreshadowed, all just to ruin his report, and then while he was revising the paper, he would improve his proof ideas, and finally win the prize before him. this result.
However, the further he looked down, the more his eyelids couldn't help but beat wildly.
WTF? !
At most, there was just a "minor" deviation in the way of solving the problem... At least in his opinion, it was quite minor.
Why was this "nobody" able to point out the weakness in his paper with just one sentence
"Don't waste your efforts," Witten smiled and stood up from his seat, "If he is right, then no one in the world is closer to the truth than him. If you want to walk in front of him, you have to He has far better talent and hard work than him. If he were twenty years younger... or thirty years younger, I would be interested in competing with him, but now... "
Especially when he saw the middle part and saw the key calculation line "m=√(2+O(λ^3))", the fear in his eyes suddenly turned into angry fire.
Although the old gentleman usually looks like a personable old gentleman, it does not mean that he looks like this all the time. If you spend time with him, you will know that his mind is not as broad as it seems.
While he was frustrated, he also couldn't help but feel humiliated...
After a pause, Witten looked at Goddard and shrugged, then continued.
"This can't be a coincidence!"
"On Arxiv?! Thank you, I suddenly remembered that I left something in the library, so I took the first step!"
When a person's eyes have been obscured by the flames of hatred, it is useless to say anything at this time.
After all, under normal circumstances, if it is not a paper that has been released for a long time or is obviously full of loopholes, it is difficult for even the most outstanding scholars to point out the errors in the argumentation process at the report meeting, especially for most people who are not mainly engaged in this field. This is especially true for research scholars.
For example, he used a scalar field on the space-time manifold, which is a continuation of the method used by Weinberg in establishing the unified theory of weak electricity. However, Lu Zhou used a quantum field corresponding to the classical action in the aforementioned problem. Field—that is, the quantum Yang-Mills field.
This situation is not uncommon in academia, at least not in the physics community. When an idea is released, it is not well used and is quickly processed by peers into their own things in order to seize the "first place". ” or the reputation of “separately and simultaneously.”
“…”
"Have you heard? The mass gap problem of the strong interaction has been solved!"
Under the big umbrella outside the cafe.
Why didn't Lu Zhou show up at the scene
Trying to find fault with his paper, especially in the field of mathematics, is simply more difficult than writing one yourself.
"It's not him, I'm talking about Professor Lu's paper."
"Expected."
Although the physics community usually gives enough tolerance to such world-class difficult problems, as long as he can provide reasonable fixes to the problems in this paper, no one will immediately sentence his paper to death, but for him personally In other words, this is still a heavy blow.
Oxford University campus.
However, now, just the report meeting ended in such a disastrous failure.
Without any time to hesitate, he quickly glanced at the abstract of the paper and immediately jumped to the main text.
Although he doesn't mind adding a few more gaps to his face, the slowness in thinking and the decline in energy are irreversible. Neither he nor his old friend Witten is anyone who can solve an academic problem anymore. Discuss the age of several days and nights.