Great Country Academician

In early April, something big happened in the world of physics.

On April 8, Peter Higgs, the British scientist who proposed the "God Particle" and Nobel Prize winner in physics, passed away at the age of 94.

In the development process of physics, there are many scholars who can be recorded in history and influence the development of the entire field.

Beginning with Galileo, empirical physics in the history of civilization transformed into classical physics; to Newton, a great figure who cannot be bypassed in the history of the development of physics and even science; to Einstein, Maxwell, Planck, and Bohr. The modern physics system based on the "Standard Model" gradually established by Zeman and others.

It can be said that in these three hundred years, physics has undergone earth-shaking changes, from macro to micro, from low speed to high speed, etc., affecting the entire era and the development of the entire civilization.

In the 'Standard Model', the most difficult to find and extremely important 'God Particle' and the 'Higgs Mechanism' proposed by Professor Peter Higgs are the key to explaining how other particles acquire mass and how the universe Form the core of quality, matter.

It is no exaggeration to say that in the past half century, the most significant achievement in the field of theoretical physics has been the successful detection of the Higgs boson at the Large Strong Particle Collider (LHC).

It completed the Standard Model and laid the foundation for the edifice of modern physics.

And today, this probably the most impressive physicist of the 21st century passed away.

However, compared to most theoretical physicists, Higgs is lucky.

At least he lived to see the day when his theories were confirmed.

This is something that countless other physicists have dreamed of but failed to achieve.

Many stars burn alone and go out, long before their light reaches our eyes.

Higgs was lucky, he saw the light emanating from the star he created with his own hands.

In the office, the joy that the CRHPC, the circular super particle collider, was about to be built was dashed away at this moment.

Both Xu Chuan and Lin Feng stared at the news on their mobile phones in silence.

For the physics community, this is a highly respected senior figure. His groundbreaking work inspired thousands of scientists, and his contributions will continue to inspire generations of others.

With a long sigh, Xu Chuan put down the pen in his hand, stood up and walked out of the office.

It is raining lightly in April in the south of the Yangtze River. It may be that God is also sad for the passing of this great scholar.

Looking at the gloomy sky, Xu Chuan thought silently.

The death of Professor Higgs deeply touched him.

If you are talking about luck, then he is probably the luckiest person.

After all, it can be said that the opportunity to come back again with memories is what almost everyone dreams of.

However, Higgs' dream has come true, and he has seen his own star; then where is his star?

Staring at the drizzle outside the hospital, my thoughts drifted into the distance unconsciously.

I don't know how much time passed, but Xu Chuan, who was standing at the door of the courtyard, heard someone calling him.

"professor."

After coming back to his senses from a trance, he looked at the source of the voice. To his surprise, the person calling him turned out to be Tang Ran, an assistant from Nanda University.

"How did you come?"

Tang Ran took out a letter from the backpack he carried with him and handed it over: "Professor, this is a letter mailed from the University of Edinburgh in the UK."

As she said that, she glanced at Xu Chuan, was silent for a moment and continued: "It was sent by that Peter Higgs."

She had seen the news published on the Internet that Professor Peter Higgs passed away a few hours ago.

At almost the right time, NTU received a letter from Professor Higgs from the University of Edinburgh.

Looking at the letter in Tang Ran's hand, Xu Chuan fell silent.

"I see."

After a while, he said softly, took the letter from Tang Ran, turned around and walked into the office.

Behind him, Tang Ran looked at Xu Chuan's back, opened his mouth and hesitated to speak.

Xu Chuan closed the office door and sat on the sofa, opening the envelope.

Inside the cowhide yellow letter bag is a thick stack of manuscript paper, which is simply clipped together with a black folder.

And the most superficial thing is two or three thin sheets of letter paper, placed on the very surface.

Xu Chuan reached out to pick up the letter and his eyes fell on the not-so-regular handwriting.

[Hello, Professor Xu Chuan, I am Peter Higgs. 】

[I have wanted to write you a letter for a long time, but because I have been recovering from illness, I have not been able to spare any time. 】

[Although we are a little regretful that we have never met, but for us scholars, it is not a big deal. 】

[I have read all the papers and results you have done in physics. Although those things take me a long time to read and think about,]

[For a ninety-year-old man, I think this is a very difficult thing. To know the mathematical knowledge you have created and researched, even if I am young, it is difficult to understand. Not to mention the person I am today. 】

【However, I can proudly tell you that I have read and understood the Xu-Weyl-Berry theorem, the proof of the proton radius, the method of using mathematical methods to calculate the most ideal search for decay channels of high-energy particles, and the grand unified framework theory of strongly correlated electron systems. 】

【I am very moved that I can see a young and great scholar growing vigorously, absorbing and creating a lot of knowledge in my lifetime. That is the future, and I am looking forward to it, but I probably don’t have much time to witness it.】

【Although it is a pity that I can’t meet you, it is enough to be comforted to see that there are successors in the physics community in my lifetime. 】

【To use the ancient Chinese saying, the Yangtze River’s waves behind push the waves ahead, and the green is better than the blue. This is probably the most appropriate phrase. I also sincerely hope that you can go further on the academic path. ]

[By the way, François Englert came to visit me some time ago. He said that you are studying dark matter, the theory of strong and electric unification, gravity, and Einstein-Rosen bridges (space-time holes). ]

[This makes me feel very emotional. I have to say that the fields you are involved in and researching are really too wide. And this is only part of your research in physics. ]

[Such vast knowledge and research directions, in my memory, I am afraid that only Mr. Einstein, whom I met when I was young, can be compared with him. ]

[Back to the point, I heard from that old man Englert that in the fields of the theory of strong and electric unification, dark matter, gravity, etc., you don’t seem to have much direction at present. Coincidentally, when I was young and had the energy to think and do research in the early years, I also thought about these issues. ]

[And I have asked the servants to sort out these things and mail them to you together with this letter. I hope they can help you a little. ]

[In addition, I have a small request. 】

【If one day in the future, you can solve or prove one of these problems, if possible, remember to burn a copy for me in front of my grave. 】

【Maybe I can see it in heaven, right? 】

【.】

【Oh, by the way, there is one more thing I want to talk to you about. 】

【Regarding the tit-for-tat issue between CERN and CRHPC, to be honest, perhaps in the short term they can indeed promote the prosperity of theoretical physics and high-energy physics to a greater extent. 】

【But if we consider it from a long-term perspective, their tit-for-tat is very likely to split the relatively unified academic community today. In my opinion, this is not good news. 】

【Because whether it is the theoretical physics community or the mathematics community, or other disciplines, as long as it is theoretical research, it must not require the power of a certain country, a certain region, or a certain organization. It requires the joint efforts of the entire civilization. 】

【Perhaps I saw something in the last moments of my life, so I hope that in the future, if the CRHPC led by you replaces the position of CERN, I hope you can accept physicists from various countries in CERN. 】

【Most of them are innocent and have no interest in these fights. The end of civilization, even if it will happen in the future, all I can do is pray in heaven, hoping that it will come more slowly.】

【.】

Xu Chuan read the letter carefully word by word.

"We have met, Professor Higgs."

Looking at the letter in his hand, Xu Chuan muttered to himself, and a shadow appeared in front of him.

That is the scholar who wrote this letter to him, Peter Higgs.

If Edward Witten is his mentor in two lives, then Professor Peter Higgs has brought him a lot of knowledge in the field of high-energy physics in the past.

Including the exploration of dark matter in the previous life, this deceased old man also brought him some inspiration and theoretical concepts.

It can be said that in the previous life, he was able to perfectly predict and discover the exploration of dark matter, and Professor Higgs made a great contribution.

"I can't guarantee the others, but I will definitely remember the theory of dark matter."

Staring at the letter, Xu Chuan breathed a sigh of relief and said silently in his heart.

As long as the construction of the circular super-intense particle collider CRHPC is completed, dark matter will be a result that he is destined to have in his pocket.

It is just a pity that Professor Higgs has not been able to see it in person, whether in the previous life or this life.

Putting down the letter in his hand gently, Xu Chuan picked up a thick stack of manuscript paper on the table and opened the first page.

This is a handwritten theory, which is about the unification of the three forces of strong, weak and electric forces, written by Higgs himself.

From Xu Chuan's understanding of Higgs, he is a very traditional and friendly person.

It was not until the day when he was eighty that Higgs had his first computer in his life, but he would reply to almost everyone who wrote to him.

When he was a professor in the early years, he had an email address, but he never sent emails and never even browsed the web.

Whenever he received an email, his secretary would print out the received emails, and he would reply one by one with paper letters; then his secretary would forward the reply to a colleague to handle it and reply to the email.

The colleague who handled the emails knew very well that most of the letters Higgs replied to did not actually need to alarm the old man.

But he still responded seriously to every scholar who asked him serious questions.

In fact, Xu Chuan himself cannot do this.

His mailbox is handled by an assistant agent, and most mail never reaches him.

Starting from the first page, Xu Chuan sat in the office for more than four hours, and it was not until the sun set that he finished reading the dozens of pages of the manuscript.

After standing up and stretching his muscles and turning his head and lumbar spine, he breathed a sigh of relief and sat down again.

The manuscript that Professor Higgs sent him actually contained many theories and opinions, especially thoughts on the field of high-energy physics, which he had already read and understood in his previous life.

However, even if he has already read and thought about the theory, re-reading it can still bring him some new gains.

For example, from the Higgs mechanism to the electroweak interaction.

As we all know, the vector boson describing the weak interaction is W±, and the Z boson obtains its mass from the Higgs mechanism.

For this theory, the current theoretical description starts from the U(1) Higgs mechanism. Through the coupling of the Lagrange quantity as the complex scalar field and the U(1) gauge field, it can be regarded as coupling with the electromagnetic field. Scalar electrodynamics in which electromagnetic gauge symmetries are spontaneously broken.

In other words, it is scalar electrodynamics with spontaneous breaking of the electromagnetic gauge symmetry.

In this manuscript sent by Professor Higgs, he has further thoughts on the Higgs mechanism, electroweak interaction and strong electroweak interaction, and there are some things that he has not seen before.

For example, in thinking about the asymptotic freedom of the strong interaction force (QCD), Higgs reset the ordinary field theory and introduced some theories from the grand unified framework theory of strongly correlated electron systems in condensed matter physics that he had previously studied. .

If correct, this means that the strong coupling constant will decrease as the energy scale increases, tending to 0 at high energies. Therefore, the view that QCD becomes a trivial field theory at the high energy limit will be broken through.

This will bring a new thinking direction to the unification of strong and weak electric mathematical models.

These are valuable things.

With a long sigh of relief, Xu Chuan sorted out the papers on the table and sent a message to Zheng Hai, asking him to pick him up.

"I need to do some research these days. If there's nothing important, don't bother me."

In front of the villa, as soon as Xu Chuan opened the car door, he remembered something, stopped and turned to face Zheng Hai in front of him.

"Okay professor, do you need me to prepare something for you?"

"No need, I have everything I need to prepare at home, and you can't get what I need to prepare."