The End of Technology

Ning Zi was not too surprised when she received the news.

These days, he has been thinking about the issue of space disturbance. If his idea is mathematically sound, then the operating model of the universe should be like this.

This can't even be called confidence, but a metaphysical recognition.

As for the slight difference in calculation, it is normal.

Specifically, the difference in magnitude is more than ten stars, or perhaps dozens of stars, which means that the calculation accuracy of the derived formula needs to be improved. Now at least it has been proven that there are indeed stars in the galactic center. There is a black hole there in theory, and there should indeed be a massive black hole.

As for why stars can survive there, a more precise theory is needed to describe it.

Of course, it is still too early to really talk about conquering the universe.

At least with the current level of technology, there is still a long way to go.

It’s just that there is a theoretical way to better transform the planet’s environment. For example, after calculating the angle and distance, use a big artificial light bulb to make planets with other conditions that can meet the survival of life have carbon-based life to adapt to. temperature and even climate control. Then we can improve the ecology by introducing species.

This makes it much easier for humans to transform the planet.

Even if energy can be utilized to a greater extent, the gravity of the planet can be adjusted by affecting the angular velocity of the planet, bringing it closer to the earth.

Just like immigrating to Mars, this is a beautiful-looking plan. But even if humans master the technology of planetary immigration, the year-round average temperature of minus 63 degrees on the surface of Mars and the sudden storms that occur from time to time will make life on earth appear particularly fragile.

Not to mention that the gravity of Mars is only 2/5 of the Earth. This low gravity level will also affect people. After a few generations, the Earthlings who immigrated to Mars may experience various symptoms of discomfort when they return to Earth.

If Ning Zi's theory gradually becomes more complete, human civilization can find ways to borrow those natural forces to double the gravity of Mars to 4/5 of Earth's, and at the same time use an oversized light bulb to increase the energy required for life on the surface of Mars. Even adjusting the composition of the atmosphere, humans will not need to build huge closed cities on Mars to make the planet run.

This is the power of theory and its charm, which allows people to see infinite hope for the future.

Of course, countless people will be crazy about it.

…

In an apartment near the Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, the United States, Lucius Rudy has received the information transmitted back by the Chandra X-ray Space Telescope.

Of course, humans cannot match March's analytical abilities.

Even if those contents are analyzed purposefully, finding evidence of the existence of stars from countless data requires comparing countless complicated information.

Although a lot of work is still done by computers, if we don't specifically look for relevant information, those key points will be hidden in the massive data and will not show up at all.

Here is a piece of common sense that subverts many people’s perceptions.

Infrared rays and X-rays are both invisible light. In other words, this type of space telescope cannot directly take photos of the universe that humans can intuitively see. It collects various cosmic rays, makes data, and then studies and compares them day and night by scientists, and finally uses computers to restore them into patterns that humans can understand and publish them.

In other words, many times the cosmic microwave background images you see are computer-generated products.

Astronomical observations are not about looking directly.

The distance of 26,000 light-years from the galactic center means that the deep space telescope collected signals of various frequencies that were emitted 26,000 years ago. These signals have traveled for such a long time, which naturally leads to deviations in various data. Therefore, it is actually very difficult to locate celestial objects at such a long distance.

Too much space dust can distort the signal.

So it is no exaggeration to say that this is a very complicated job.

Now the job has been given to Lucius Rudy.

Since everyone was interested in Ning Zi's judgment, he was happy and relaxed.

After all, this is not an easy task. If it was really easy to process these data, when the editor of the science magazine took the initiative to find him, he would not have shied away first. As a scientist, it’s never a bad thing to have a good relationship with the editors of the world’s top journals.

Except for those who really have character problems, no one will refuse a request that is too easy.

And Lucius Rudy quite enjoys this working atmosphere.

The chat group is always open. After the data is distributed, everyone can run the data while chatting about topics that everyone is interested in, such as new discoveries in astronomy, or interesting things that happened in their respective laboratories, which can make people feel More relaxed.

After all, it is still the Christmas holiday, and the Ames Research Center is on vacation until New Year's Day. It is indeed too boring to stay at home and face massive amounts of data alone. Being able to make jokes with like-minded people while getting down to business can also quickly prove how outrageous the idea of ​​that mathematical genius in the East is.

Just thinking about it, this will be a very unforgettable Christmas.

Maybe a few years later, when he retires and writes some memoirs, he can focus on describing his mental journey these days.

Of course, this half-leisure, half-work state cannot produce results quickly.

Lucius Rudy also went out for two meals in the middle, of course both were fast food.

Some restaurants are closed during the Christmas holiday, but many chain fast food restaurants are still open. For example, Chef Chu, which is near the apartment, is open even on Christmas Day.

From this point of view, Lucius Rudy admires the Chinese people's dedication very much. Although he doesn't really like eating Chinese food, because most of the staple food in Chinese restaurants is fried rice. If given a choice, he would still prefer to go to McDonald's to solve his stomach problem. Unfortunately, the McDonald's near the apartment is closed. If you want to go to another one, you need to walk two more blocks.

Although Lucius Rudy doesn't like ordering takeout, he doesn't waste time so wantonly.

Fun working hours are concentrated during the day. At night the group became deserted.

After all, not everyone is a loner like Lucius Rudy. Most people in the group have families.

After ten o'clock in the evening, the group chat became lively again, but after midnight it became even more deserted. Only Lucius Rudy and three others were still online. Only four people were left and two others had not said a word for more than an hour. They had probably fallen asleep, but the computer was still hanging.

This is the norm.

After all, not everyone is as striving as Lucius Rudy.

Sleeping when you should sleep, doing things when you should do things, this is the life of a normal person.

However, Lucius Rudy was naturally energetic. He was already used to going to bed at 1 a.m. every day, getting up at 5:30 a.m., and taking a half-hour lunch break at noon. Occasionally, if you encounter something you are interested in, you may stay up even later.

Anyway, five hours of sleep a day is enough for him.

Just like that, at one o'clock in the middle of the night, Lucius Rudy finished summarizing the day's work, looked at the data analysis results about the galactic center, then shook his head, and planned to take a rest.

He was just about to say hello to another night owl in the group, but found that the group chat lit up first.

"Is anyone still awake? Can any of you analyze the data around right ascension 18h59m29s and declination -30°27′17? It seems that there is indeed a spectrum emitted by a star, or is it a super bright star?"

Lucius Rudy was stunned and replied subconsciously: "What's going on? Reni, it's already midnight, don't be joking. I can't help but call and wake everyone up. You'll know when the time comes What a scolding."

"You're still there, so hurry up. I also suspected that something was wrong, so I spent two hours verifying it. I'll send you the specific analysis results, so you can take a look."

Soon, a batch of documents was sent over.

The drowsiness that had just appeared on Lucius Rudy disappeared, and he began to carefully study the results of the opposite analysis, and called up the original data from the computer to start comparing.

During this period, I didn’t forget to keep chatting in the group chat: “Why did your calculation results come out so quickly?”

"We have a project cooperating with the Hishima International Observatory, and it happens that we can use Fugaku of the Computer Science Center of the Hishima Institute of Physics and Chemistry for free, so I just uploaded the data you gave me."

Lucius Rudy was shocked.

Good guy, really a good guy.

Why didn't he think of using supercomputers to process this data?

Of course you can't blame him.

After all, he just doesn't have free computing resources at hand, and computing power is very expensive wherever it is.

He never thought about paying for supercomputing time in order to verify these data.

"Wait a minute. I'll find you some data that I've scanned before. Then you can connect to Fugaku for comparison."

"No problem. It's the computing power of the Japanese people anyway. They won't care about this. Send it over."

"OK!"

Soon, Lucius Rudy started searching in his own system, found a batch of relevant data from the countless data in the inventory, and sent it over.

Free computing power always makes people extremely happy. And the data is not suspected of being leaked. But any data he can find on his work computer at home is semi-public public data on the platform, and the level of confidentiality is not that high.

In fact, few people are interested in these complicated data. Most of the data is meaningless, and you need to dig for gold in order to pick out the useful things. To analyze all the contents in the database, even if all the supercomputers in the world do nothing else, it will probably take decades to process the relevant data.

And that’s not even counting the steady stream of new data being obtained.

In fact, the reason why this verification is so easy is mainly because even the possible left range has been marked in Ning Zi's paper. Although in the universe, those coordinates may not be so accurate, and the error may reach several light-years, but compared with the distance of 26,000 light-years, these errors are tolerable.

So using Fugaku, which is currently one of the fastest supercomputers in the world, his colleagues quickly produced results.

The data he is looking for this time is more targeted, the search scope is further narrowed, the amount of data is not very large, and the results should be available faster.

"Reni, the data has been sent to you."

"Got it, wait a minute, are the calculation results just now okay?"

"I'm still researching it, and it seems there's nothing wrong with it now."

"Do you want to call them? I think if I don't inform them, maybe they won't be happy tomorrow."

"Wait until I'm sure. By the way, where are you now?"

"Hawaii."

"What time is it there now?"

"At 6:15 in the morning, I had a good sleep. I got up at 5 o'clock and planned to go to the toilet and go back to sleep. Who knew that I glanced at the data and immediately started to verify it when I found something wrong? An hour passed without me noticing. Tomorrow I definitely won’t be able to enjoy the warm sunshine at the beach.”

"Now you are still thinking about the warm sunshine on the beach? The hot light from the sun in the center of the galaxy is not enough to ignite your passion?"

"If that paper were my work, my passion would have exploded by now. Even if it were you, I would be happy for you, but that paper was written by another person. The motivation for me to verify the results came from what you said That sentence, we may be the first people who can prove that he is wrong. However, what we are doing now is to prove that he is right again.

To be honest, my mood now is more complicated than when I first went to my girlfriend’s house to meet her traditional and extremely conservative father. "

Lucius Rudy didn't know what to say.

The excitement brought by the news he had just received was hit by these words, and he seemed to have forgotten his original intention at this time.

"But this discovery could change our understanding of the Milky Way and even the universe."

"This is the only reason why I am willing to give up the beautiful beach and still sit in front of the computer. Damn it, how can stars appear there? The central area of ​​the galactic center radio source is less than 10 astronomical units, but there are millions of stars there. With the mass of a sun, that is a super giant black hole, why won’t the star be swallowed up?”

"I don't know, maybe we should analyze more data before... Or we can ask Ning from Huaxia... OK, I think we can call them. After comparing with the original data, I think your analysis results are correct. , there are indeed stars there. If his inference is correct, then there should be stars in other areas, but our analysis speed cannot match yours."

"Okay, I understand what you mean. I will let everyone summarize the data and give it to me. You are responsible for making phone calls, and I am responsible for continuing to work."

"good!"

…

After Lucius Rudy made dozens of calls, the astronomers' chat group became lively again.

The data analyzed through supercomputing is sent to everyone online.

After a period of silence, the group soon became lively again.

"So he is right? He is actually right? He deduced the possibility of stellar motion in the center of the Milky Way through several formulas that have no meaning at all? And the result was proved by us?"

"God, God must be crazy. Now I'm curious about how those stars were formed? As we all know, any matter, including stars, will disappear without a trace once it falls into the gravitational field of a black hole."

"So is it possible that the disk-shaped gaseous material surrounding the black hole produced by the core disturbance activity at a certain distance may evolve into stars?"

"But that would require creating a high-temperature, high-pressure core, and if these data comparisons are correct, the stars there are massive and extremely luminous."

"Well, the structure of the universe is more complicated. I knew that everything was too simple. The mass there is 6.84 X10 to the 36th power, which is 3.6 million times the mass of the sun."

"Tomorrow the whole world will go crazy over this discovery."

"Haha, Lucius, you are wrong. Not many people will pay attention to this. Of course, many people in the physics community may not know why."

"Wait a minute, speaking of this, do you think Ning's discovery might win the Nobel Prize next year?"

A simple question caused the lively group chat to suddenly become silent again.

After a while, someone answered: "Probably not? After all, the Nobel Prize was awarded to those who studied gravitational waves just last year. We can't give it to those who study cosmology next year. Those who do quantum physics will go crazy. And Ning Zi is not a physicist, right?"

"But through Ning Ji's paper, we discovered the existence of dense stellar objects in the galactic center, which overturned at least one-third of our understanding of the galactic center and related theories. To be honest, this is indeed a Nobel Prize-level achievement. If If he can complete the theory next year, then it won’t be a big problem to win another Nobel Prize.”

"He is only 22 years old and has already won the Fields Medal in Mathematics and the Turing Award, so he wants to set a new record for the Nobel Prize?"

"Well, so what can I do?"

"I still think it should be awarded to quantum mechanics next year."

"hehe……"

"Okay, the verification is complete. Everyone, the results have been sent to your mailbox. Facts speak louder than words. No matter how difficult it is for you to accept, the Chinese are right. Of course, there may be a slight mistake, because the stars there are far bigger than others. There are more inferences in the paper. Lucius, you are an expert on black holes. I have a hunch that your hair will fall out very quickly for a long time to come."

"No, maybe we can cooperate with Ning Zi. I am suddenly very interested in his paper. If possible, maybe we should let him fill in the missing parts of the paper as soon as possible."

"Lucius, you should be able to do it. Maybe you can get the editor of the science magazine to contact Ning Zi."

"Maybe, but I'm not sure. I heard he doesn't like talking to people, but I'll try, you guys wait."

…

"Dang Dang Dang..."

When Yarel Riley was awakened by the ringing of the phone, he subconsciously glanced out the window.

It's still dark...

Damn, that's so rude, don't you know it's Christmas vacation?

It is indeed too much to disturb someone's dream at this time.

"Who is it?" the woman next to him asked.

"Let me see..." After saying that, Yarrell Riley turned over and climbed up, looked at the caller number, then he was stunned, then quickly woke up, then put on his pajamas, and answered casually : "A scientist friend." Then he walked out of the bedroom.

He really didn't expect that the call was from Lucius Rudy. He looked at the time and saw it was 5:37 in the morning.

It was really hard for the scientist to just hang up the phone. After all, he had just called for someone not long ago.

And calling him at this time always gave him a weird feeling.

Could it be...

After walking out of the bedroom, he answered the phone and quickly verified his suspicion.

"Although it's hard to say it, I still have to take back what I said before. Ning Zi is right. After verification, there are indeed stars in the area pointed out in his paper, and there are dozens of stars. Judging from the existing data, These stars may be 30 to 50 times larger than our sun, and may be a hundred times as bright as the sun. They rotate very fast, probably because they are afraid of being eaten by black holes.

To paraphrase my brother who is doing this with me, the universe is a miracle and everything we think we know may be wrong. I have to admit that he is right, but you should know that his paper is not that clear, so can you put me in touch with him? We hope to have some academic discussions with Ning Zi. "

Yarrell Riley could hear the urgency in Lucius Rudy's tone.

But he was actually helpless with this request.

After all, he was not familiar with Ning Zi either. Even the magazine sent Ning Zi an email that the manuscript had been published, but Ning Zi had not responded yet.

"Okay, I will communicate your request to Ning Zi, but are you sure you have found evidence of stars in that area? Of course, I am not questioning your judgment, but you said before that it might take a while Came to look for evidence.”

"Yes, it did take a while, but there were too many coincidences. My application was approved in advance, and I happened to have a friend with supercomputing resources. Of course, it will take some time to write these findings into a paper, and we have to sort it out I need to double-check the information and use the computer to synthesize some pictures. Well, in about a week, when you have a happy Christmas vacation, you may be able to see this article in your mailbox."

"That's great, trust me Lucius, I will find a way to discuss your ideas with Ning Zi. This is another major astronomical discovery in the 21st century, right?"

"Without a doubt, yes! By the way, I take back what I said before, mathematics is indeed omnipotent."

"Do not say that……"

"Okay, remember your promise. I very much hope to communicate with Ning as soon as possible. It can be through email, phone, video, etc. You can tell him and I can arrange it according to his time."

"OK!"

"Then please, hang up."

Listening to the busy signal, Yarrell Reilly knew there would be no quiet this Christmas in yet another area of ​​science.

…

Hua Xia, Yanbei University, Fan Zhenhua was checking literature in the office of the Mathematics Research Center. Suddenly there was a knock on the office door. Before he could answer, someone opened the door and walked in.

"Academician Chen? Which gust of wind brought you here?"

Fan Zhenhua looked at the visitor in surprise. This person was Chen Wenze, the head of the Department of Astronomy at Yanbei University.

"What other gust of wind could there be? Of course it was Ning Feng who blew me here. Are you busy? If not, take me to the National Sports University and help me introduce him. I want to meet Ning Zi."

"No... why did you go to see Ning Jue? Did he offend you again?" Fan Zhenhua felt nervous.

After all, Ning Zi has a history of offending people. He always does some messy things and offends people out of nowhere, which makes people's heads ache.

And at this time, Fan Zhenhua really didn't want Ning Zi to offend these big bosses again. After all, his plan was to push Ning Zi up next year.

However, Chen Wenze's answer caught him off guard.

"You don't know about the paper he published in Science?"

"He published another paper in Science? When?" Fan Zhenhua also looked stunned.

He really didn't know about this.

"The day before yesterday, the official science website was updated and gave him a special Christmas edition. To put it simply, he made some predictions through mathematics, subversive predictions. I got news that some colleagues have confirmed his predictions. That's right. I studied his paper again, and there are some parts that I don't quite understand, so I want to ask him in person.

By the way, it's not just me. Two professors from the school's Astrophysics Research Center are on their way over. They asked me to come to you first, and then made an appointment to come to the National Sports University together. "

Fan Zhenhua blinked his eyes, a little confused...

The day before yesterday?

Didn’t Ning Zi just finish her doctoral thesis defense the day before yesterday?

He went to science and published a paper again? Or about astrophysics?

"Um, Academician Chen, are you mistaken? Have you never heard of research on astronomy in Ningji?"

"Didn't I say it? His paper is a prediction based on mathematical derivation, so it makes people feel strange. Oh, stop talking nonsense and leave quickly. I'll explain it to you on the way, okay?"

"Yes, I will accompany you, but there is no guarantee that he will give me face as an old man."

"Okay, I don't believe that young man really doesn't recognize his relatives, so he's gone, he's gone."

Just like that, Fan Zhenhua was pulled out of the door in a daze.

…

Almost at the same time, Chen Lili's phone rang as he was writing his thesis in the office.

This call happened to be from Li Zhongshu, director of the Department of Astronomy at Huaqing University.

The astronomy department of Huaqing University was formerly the astrophysics major of the School of Physics. After Yanbei University spun off the astronomy department, Huaqing did the same thing and hired an academician of the Academy of Sciences as the department chair.

For Associate Professor Chen Lili, he was inevitably more surprised than Fan Zhenhua when he received the call.

After all, he had almost no interaction with Academician Li. After all, they held meetings at different levels.

"Professor Chen, I am Li Zhongshu."

"Oh, hello, Academician Li, hello."

"Hey, um, I didn't bother you, did I?"

"No, no, what's the matter with you?"

"That's good, I really want to ask you for help with something. As you know, Ning Zi's relationship with Hua Qing is not very good, so I want to ask you to help me. See if I can invite Ning Zi to come to our astronomy department to give a lecture. Let’s talk about his latest paper. Regardless of the school’s grievances, we simply want to invite him to give a related seminar. What do you think?”

"ah?"