Ultimate Scholar

In addition to mathematics, the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study can be called the center of mathematics in the world. For the theoretical physics community, it is also like a holy place, which makes countless physicists feel like a pilgrimage.

Because too many famous physicists have worked here.

For example, Einstein who immigrated to the United States, and von Neumann, Oppenheimer, etc.

Even Mr. Yang Zhenning spent more than ten years of research here.

Here, it can be regarded as the place where top physicists are most willing to patronize.

And at the moment, Edward Witten, the physicist most likely to inherit the brilliance of Einstein, is doing research here.

...

"Witten, did you find your strings today?"

In a coffee shop in the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, Deligne walked over with a cup of coffee, sat in one of the seats, and said to the people next to him. \b

Spending the afternoon in this coffee shop is what the scholars who work here like to do most. Some scholars even like to do research here. Anyway, they only need paper and pen to study theories.

For example, the person Deligne greeted, Edward Witten.

The relationship between the two is very good, because they both have great admiration for the achievements of the other.

One is one of today's top physicists, and the other is one of today's top mathematicians. There is also a sense of sympathy between them.

Hearing Deligne's words, Witten immediately said angrily: "Don't mention this kind of thing, it's impolite to mention it again."

Deligne laughed, then picked up the coffee cup in his hand and took a sip.

For an old scholar like him who has reached Dzogchen academically and is also in a semi-retired state, he will no longer devote all his energy to research, so when he saw that Witten was also old, he would When I was still doing serious research, I couldn't help but make fun of it.

For Edward Witten, though, it was a last resort.

Because he has been unable to find the "string" predicted in M ​​theory, which has become his heart disease. Therefore, even though he is 69 years old this year, or even 70 years old next year, he has never given up on research.

As for M theory, or superstring theory, it is a theory that even ordinary people will find awesome.

Through a very rigorous derivation method, it deduces a mathematically impeccable conclusion, that is, the most basic composition of the material world is not subatomic particles, but strings, and strings constitute various subatomic particles, and then these subatomic particles Atomic particles constitute atoms, and finally there is the physical world.

At the same time, in the framework described by this theory, both quantum mechanics and general relativity are perfectly reconciled in a self-consistent model.

Therefore, superstring theory is considered to be the most promising "everything" theory to unify quantum mechanics and relativity.

Of course, "the most promising" means that it has not yet achieved this ultimate goal.

Because scholars of superstring theory have never discovered the "string" of the universe that they dream of finding.

As the master of superstring theory, he synthesized five kinds of superstring theories, and the proponent of M theory, Edward Witten, is of course the one who most urgently finds the proof of the existence of "string". \b

"Honestly, I'm ready to never find strings in my life."

After a while, Witten sighed and said: "There has never been any physical experiment that can help us discover the existence of strings, whether it is directly or indirectly, unless we can build a particle collider larger than the earth. Only then can we help us observe the strings exactly."

"Perhaps, God has been playing tricks on us all along, allowing us to recognize the basic makeup of the universe, but not to discover it."

"As if to make us blind."

"Human beings are still too small."

Witten's voice seemed a little lonely.

In any case, it is absolutely cruel for a scholar that a theory that has been researched with a lifetime of painstaking efforts has never been verified.

Especially because it cannot be verified, there are not a few scholars who oppose string theory in the academic circle.

These opposing voices also put a lot of pressure on Witten.

Sensing the negative emotions of his old friend, Deligne was also silent for a moment, then patted Witten on the shoulder and said, "Relax, although I don't know much about physics, I am a mathematician. Always believe in the results derived from mathematics."

"What's more, maybe at some point in the future, or even later, you will be able to find the dawn of solving the problem?"

Deligne's comfort made Witten smile helplessly.

"Thank you for your reassurance. As for the possibility of finding a solution to the problem later...well, I'll take it seriously."

Just kidding, can this kind of problem mean that if you find it, you will find it?

Suddenly, at this moment, a voice came from the side: "Hey, Witten, something big has happened!"

"The edifice of our physics world is about to collapse again!"

Witten said dumbfoundedly: "How did it collapse this time?"

As the most well-known stalk in the physics world, the term physics building has collapsed too many times in the history of physics in the past century.

Including superstring theory, it was also the culprit that caused the collapse of a certain physics building. \b

"This time I'm not kidding, this time it's real!"

The speaker finally came up to them. \b

Nathan Cyborg, also a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.

At the same time, he is also a scholar specializing in string theory, and has a very close cooperative relationship with Edward Witten.

At this time, his expression was very solemn, and he showed the tablet computer in his hand to Witten.

Seeing Cyborg's solemn expression, Witten suppressed his smile and looked at the tablet.

What is displayed on the tablet is a paper in the direction of theoretical physics on arxiv.

"A new series expansion for the Standard Model..."

Seeing this title, Witten was not taken aback, "A new expansion of the Standard Model? What is this?"

Doesn't the physics community use perturbation expansions for the series expansions of the Standard Model?

Cyborg didn't explain, just said: "You look at the summary first."

"Okay, abstract...Using the idea of ​​renormalization, a new standard model series expansion is constructed, which avoids the non-perturbation phenomenon in the perturbation expansion..."

Seeing this, Witten was a little confused: "Water? Don't use the perturbation expansion method? How can we study the nature of quantum?!"

"Nathan, are you sure you didn't just find a paper to joke with me? Without using perturbation expansion, whether it is the standard model or string theory, it will become impossible to study!"

Nathan shook his head, "Don't worry, read it first."

"I can only say that I had the same thought as you at first, but after reading it, I realized that the physics building really collapsed this time."

Nathan's words still made Witten hold back his temper and continued to read. \b

"...The standard model is realized, the convergence of the infinite series after series expansion...the quality of the W boson is actually higher..."

"What? The W boson is a thousandth more massive than the previous Standard Model?"

Witten had more and more questions on his mind, and of course, more and more questions about the paper.

"In the past, the calculations of the W boson by the Standard Model have always been correct, and various experimental results have also proved this point. Why does this paper deny the experimental results?"

In the end, Witten still shook his head, expressing his disapproval.

The previous ones may be acceptable, but at this point, he feels unreasonable.

After all, before, the conclusions of the theory and experiment on the mass of the W boson were consistent.

And the conclusion in this abstract is equivalent to denying the experimental results?

This is certainly unreasonable.

But at this moment, Deligne next to him also looked over curiously.

He is very interested in the collapse of the physics building, and of course he is more interested in why the attitudes of Cyborg and Witten are so different.

But at a glance, his eyes were first attracted by the name of the author of the paper: "Oh, wait, the author of this paper is... Li Mu?"

"Yes, it's Li Mu, that math genius." Cyborg nodded, and then said to Witten with a smile, "Didn't you say that you wanted Li Mu to be your student? Now you don't believe him?"

Witten: "...I take back what I just said."

Academia is a circle that pays attention to credibility.

People with a high credit rating, no matter how nonsensical the conclusion is, people will verify it with a half-believing attitude.

And big cows like them have high credit ratings, and so does Li Mu.

So Witten changed his previous attitude.

"But no matter what, what I still want to say is that this conclusion is very unbelievable, and I need to read the full text."

"Of course, that's why I came to you." Nathan Cyborg nodded, and while clicking on the full text he downloaded, he said, "After you read it, you will understand."

Witten didn't say anything, took the tablet and looked at it directly.

And Deligne next to him also joined in. He has been in contact with Edward Witten for so long. He also has a certain amount of research on theoretical physics. Coupled with his mathematical foundation, it is still difficult to understand a theoretical physics paper. It's not big, at least the part of the mathematical argument inside doesn't have too many problems for him.

Soon, the first few steps of mathematical derivation process given in the paper aroused Deligne's praise: "Such mathematical skills are his papers. Among the mathematicians I know, only his mathematical The derivation can be so wonderful, just like Ramanujan once was."

Regarding Deligne's words, Witten nodded in agreement.

As the best mathematician among physicists, he even won the Fields Medal for his application of mathematics in physics. He has always appreciated such wonderful mathematical derivations.

However, for this paper, the mathematical method is relatively unimportant, and the conclusion is the most important.

However, this is only what he thinks for the time being.

After continuing to read a few pages, both he and Deligne looked shocked.

"Wait...! This place is really... unbelievable, right?"

In the paper, an ingenious derivation method shocked the two Fields Medal winners.

To be able to do so...

"Using the method of infinitesimal transformation, the original divergent infinite series can be converged...he really did it!"

At this moment, Witten already believed what was said in the abstract, and Li Mu found a new way of unfolding that could replace the perturbative unfolding.

In any case, perturbation expansion is just a mathematical method, which can be replaced by another method.

It's hard though.

But now, Li Mu's mathematical ability has proved the possibility.

Witten also realized that his past habit of using perturbations had conditioned his thinking.

Li Mu's thesis made him come out of this stereotype.

He felt a little grateful in his heart, and at the same time, his attitude towards this thesis became more rigorous, and he even had a kind of respect like a Christian reading the Bible.

This paper will inspire every mathematician.

As they turned page by page, until the end, the whole paper was read by them.

Neither Witten nor Deligne said a word for a while.

until the end.

Deligne spoke first.

He recovered from the deep shock, "Oumega, this paper is no longer using mathematics to solve problems, he is using God's language to solve problems, and he is God!"

As a very successful mathematical method, perturbation expansion still faces the intractable problem of non-perturbation phenomena.

But the new development method in Li Mu's thesis almost made Deligne feel invulnerable.

This is a perfect mathematical theory!

At this time, he suddenly realized that the old friend next to him hadn't said anything, so he quickly shook Witten: "Witten, why don't you talk?"

Witten finally moved.

He slumped back on the chair and looked at the sky until a moment later, a happy smile unique to a scholar appeared on his face.

Deligne understood.

"Old friend, your prophecy just now has come true."

"I really saw the light of day."