The top student must be diligent

Xiao Yi's error handling method has almost become a subject that must be mastered in their research institute, and it has almost become a learning goal that must be mastered in their research institute.

After all, since this new data processing method can discover the problem of W boson overweight, maybe it can also help them discover something equally important on some important topics in the future?

For high-energy physics, [accuracy] is very important.

Ever since, the entire Institute of High Energy has launched a "Youth Study". Ahem, it should be a study for the elderly, middle-aged and young people. From senior researchers to graduate students who have just entered the institute, everyone has begun to study this method. .

Of course, this is also true for the CERN research team who came to the Institute of High Energy for exchange and study. The original exchange and study has turned into a new method of exchange and study.

They even decided to stay in the High Energy Institute for a few more days because of the importance they attached to this matter.

Of course, they were also waiting for Xiao Yi's paper to be released.

For example, George Parisi is now ready to contact CERN to provide recent relevant data after Xiao Yi's paper is released.

In this way, time passed quickly, a few days later.

…

In the editorial office of "Physical Review Letters", in the editor-in-chief's office.

"this essay……"

The editor-in-chief of PRL, Professor Robert Gristow, was looking at a new submission on his computer and felt a little troubled.

This is a paper involving high-energy physics, titled "A new error analysis and data processing method and 2000 sets of experimental data show that the W boson mass is overweight by about 0.1%."

If you only look at the first half of this question, it doesn't matter. You can't even get to him directly. But if you add the second half, it becomes different.

At first glance, you may think that this result is a bit outrageous. What does it mean that the W boson is about 0.1% overweight?

That means the mass of about 157 electrons!

This will shake up the foundation of the entire physics!

The Standard Model may be broken by this.

If it were an ordinary author, according to their PRL rules, they would probably just call it back.

But now, the author of this paper made him undecided.

Xiao Yi.

This genius in mathematics, the absolute electronic calculation he made some time ago, has caused quite a stir in the materials science or physics circles.

Another Warner editor-in-chief of their PRL even called him specifically to invite submissions.

In the end, who would have thought that the other party would submit it to JACS because he was too lazy to reduce the content of the paper to less than 8 pages.

Of course, they are not going to hold grudges because of this matter. After all, these big-name authors are like this. Journals only need to be responsible for receiving papers, and then reviewing them to determine their value, while authors have a lot to consider.

But he still didn't know what to say about this paper.

Do you want to accept it?

Next to him, two other associate editors in charge of high energy physics at PRL were sitting, namely Professor Greg Landsberg and Professor Daniel Cabete.

Finally he asked, "So, what do you think?"

"Well..." Greg Landsburg pondered for a long time, and finally gave the answer: "It's hard to say."

Gristol rolled his eyes. You've been humming for a long time and thought you'd have something to say, but this is what happened in the end?

Let's talk nonsense here.

Next to him, Kabette said: "Perhaps...2000 sets of data are a little too little?"

"It's indeed a little short." Gristol also felt the same way, "There must be 10,000 groups anyway, right?"

For such important conclusions, 2000 sets of experimental data are not enough.

But Landsberg stopped talking nonsense at this time: "If there are really 10,000 groups, do you think he will submit the manuscript to us instead of to nature or science?"

"Well……"

Gristol and Kabette looked at each other, and it seemed that this was true.

The other party might have submitted the article to them because their PRL specifications were not as high as those of the two top journals.

After thinking about it for a long time, Gristow finally made a decision: "Okay, 2,000 sets of data are enough to make the physics community doubt this. Let's not ask for so much."

"It's better to receive it as soon as possible and jump in the queue directly for next week's issue."

He lamented: "The world of physics has been quiet for too long. It's time for some excitement."

…

Just like that, the time came to the second week.

As the new issue of PRL is officially published, when its readers get this issue, they will see a big equation on the cover of this issue, but there is a question mark in it.

【W±=? GeV/c^2】

GeV/c^2 is the official mass unit in the world of high-energy physics. It follows the mass-energy equation, E=mc^2, so m is equal to E/c^2.

This cover is always interesting and has aroused the curiosity of many readers.

W± should mean W boson. So, hasn’t there been a conclusion about the mass of W boson already?

The standard model calculates 80372, and most experimental conclusions have proven that it is basically within this range. Even if there are errors, they are within the range of error fluctuations.

Why is there such a question on the cover now?

For journals like this, the cover generally represents what the editor considers to be the most important paper results in the issue.

So, readers of PRL opened the journal, found the paper on the cover, and read it.

First of all, the title of this paper brought them great surprise. The W boson is 0.1% overweight?

What a joke!

Could it be that the Standard Model is wrong?

Well, it would not be accurate to say that the Standard Model is wrong, but it is an accepted fact in the physics community to say that the Standard Model is imperfect or bad.

Today's standard model is finally summarized based on all known theories or experiences in the current physics community. However, it still lacks explanation for many things. The first is about gravity. This part is completely absent from the standard model. At the same time, it does not explain many things. Dark matter, dark energy, and many other things are still unable to be explained by the Standard Model.

Therefore, the Standard Model can only be said to be a half-baked theory.

But despite this, the standard model's prediction of the mass of the W boson was still a recognized thing before.

Now, this paper calls this into question.

Especially the journal in which this paper was published is PRL!

It goes without saying that PRL is authoritative.

For a moment, the hearts of all the readers began to beat.

…

European Nuclear Organization, headquarters in Geneva.

In a research room, an exclamation came from: "Huge gift! Is this true?"

When you walk inside, you can see an old man with a surprised face.

This old man's name is Frank Wilczek, a theoretical physicist and a mathematician.

In 2004, because the asymptotic freedom proposed by him and two other physicists provided great help to the physics community in understanding the strong interaction, they won the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics that year. Academic awards.

It can be said that this is the top boss in the physics world.

At this time, he was holding the latest issue of PRL journal in his hand, looking at the paper on the cover, and exclaimed.

Next to him, there were several top physicists working at CERN, each holding a copy of PRL at this time, showing surprised expressions.

This paper only has 7 pages of content, but the information given in it shocked them all.

"Is the mass of the W boson... really overweight?"

"I'm not sure...the most critical question is, is his data processing method reasonable?"

Regarding this issue, all eyes are on Frank Wilczek.

Although Wilczek's mathematics has not reached the level of winning the Fields Medal like Edward Witten, he is still famous in their physics community. After all, he just relies on pen and paper to deduce on white paper. Progressive freedom.

Frank Wilczek pondered for a while, and finally said: "Well... I can't find the problem. The method used here is perfect."

"Especially the error matrix, which analyzes various types of errors very thoroughly, and categorizes different errors very clearly."

"Then later, a singular value decomposition method he used was able to decompose the error matrix, thereby dividing the complex error sources into single components, identifying each error, its contribution to the final value, and quantifying their contribution. Influence."

"We all know that quantification error is a very important thing. "

"Finally, it's the error propagation formula he used at the end."

Speaking of this, Wilczek sighed: "He is indeed a mathematical genius who can prove the twin prime conjecture. His new error propagation formula perfectly combines the advantages of his previous methods, so that the final result can reach a higher level." An unimaginable degree of accuracy.”

"I believe that if we could use this set of methods to search for the Higgs particle, we might be able to find more signal data of the Higgs particle."

Hearing what Wilczek said, several other professors looked at each other.

If this is said, then there seems to be no need to question the method of this paper.

"However, 2,000 sets of data are a bit too small, right?"

Professor Liam Hodgkinson said.