In addition to being the center of mathematics in the world, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton is also like a holy place for the world of theoretical physics, giving countless physicists a sense of pilgrimage.
Because many famous physicists have worked here.
For example, Einstein who immigrated to the United States, and others such as von Neumann, Oppenheimer, etc.
Even Yang Zhenning and Yang Lao have spent more than ten years of research here.
This is the place where top physicists like to visit.
At present, the physicist Edward Witten, who is known as the most likely to inherit Einstein's glory, is also conducting research here.
…
"Witten, did you find your string today?"
In a coffee shop inside the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, Deligne came over with a cup of coffee, sat on one of the seats, and then said to the person next to him.
Spending the afternoon in this coffee shop is what the scholars working here like to do most. Some scholars even like to do research here. Anyway, all they need to study theory is paper and pen.
For example, the person Deligne greeted was Edward Witten.
The two have a good relationship because they both admire what the other has accomplished.
One person is one of the top physicists today, and the other is one of the top mathematicians today. There is a sense of sympathy between them that they are in the same high place.
After hearing Deligne's words, Witten immediately said angrily: "Don't mention this kind of thing. It would be rude 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 the Great Perfection in academics 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 very old, he When I am still doing serious research, I can't help but make a joke.
However, for Edward Witten, this was a last resort.
Because he has always been unable to find the "string" predicted in M theory, which has become his heartache. Therefore, even if he is 69 years old this year or even 70 years old next year, he has never given up research.
As for M theory, or superstring theory, it is a theory that even ordinary people will find very awesome.
Through a very rigorous derivation method, he derived a mathematically impeccable conclusion, that is, the most basic component of the material world is not subatomic particles, but strings. Strings constitute various subatomic particles, and then these subatomic particles Atomic particles constituted atoms, and finally the material world.
At the same time, within the framework described by this theory, quantum mechanics and general relativity are perfectly reconciled in a self-consistent model.
Therefore, superstring theory is considered the most promising "all" theory to unify quantum mechanics and relativity.
Of course, "most promising" means that it has not yet achieved its ultimate goal.
Because scholars of superstring theory have never discovered the "string" of the universe that they dreamed of finding.
As the master of superstring theory, Edward Witten, the proposer of five superstring theories and the M theory, can certainly be called the person most eager to find proof of the existence of "strings".
"Honestly, I was prepared to never find a string 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 directly or indirectly, unless we can build a particle collider larger than the earth. This will help us observe the strings accurately."
"Perhaps, God has been playing a joke on us, allowing us to recognize the basic structure of the universe but not discover it."
"It seems to have turned us blind."
"Humans are still too small."
Witten's voice sounded a little lonely.
In any case, it is absolutely cruel for a scholar that a theory he has spent a lifetime researching cannot be verified.
Especially because it cannot be verified, there are not many scholars in the academic community who oppose string theory.
These opposing voices also put a lot of pressure on Witten.
Aware of the negative mood of his old friend, Deligne was silent for a moment, then patted Witten on the shoulder and said: "Relax, although I don't know much about physics, but I am a mathematician. Always trust the results derived from mathematics.”
"What's more, maybe at some point in the future, or even a little while later, you will be able to find a solution to the problem?"
Deligne's comfort made Witten smile helplessly.
"Thank you for your comfort. 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 be found as soon as you find it?
Suddenly, at this moment, a voice came from the side: "Hey, Witten, something big happened!"
"The building of our physics community is about to collapse again!"
Witten said dumbfounded: "How did it collapse this time?"
As the most well-known joke in the world of physics, the term physics building has collapsed too many times in the history of physics over the past century.
Including superstring theory, it is also the main culprit that caused the collapse of a certain physics building.
"This time I'm not joking, this time it's true!"
The speaker finally came to them.
Nathan Seberg, also a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
At the same time, he is also a scholar who specializes in string theory and has a very close cooperative relationship with Edward Witten.
At this time, he looked very solemn and showed the tablet computer in his hand to Witten.
Seeing Cyborg's solemn look, Witten stopped smiling and looked at the tablet.
What is displayed on the tablet is a paper on theoretical physics on arxiv.
"A new standard model series expansion..."
Seeing this title, Witten was no longer stunned. "New expansion of the Standard Model? What is this?"
Doesn’t the physics community all use perturbation expansions for the series expansion of the Standard Model?
Cyborg did not explain, just said: "You read the summary first."
"Okay, summary...Using the idea of renormalization, a new series expansion of the standard model is constructed, which avoids the non-perturbative phenomena existing in the perturbative expansion..."
Seeing this, Witten was a little confused: "Walter? Without using the perturbation expansion method? How can we study the properties of quantum in this way?!"
"Nathan, are you sure you didn't just find a paper to joke with me? Without the use of perturbation expansion, whether it is the Standard Model or string theory, it will become impossible to study!"
Nathan shook his head, "Don't be impatient, just read it first."
"I can only say that I had the same idea as you at the beginning, but after reading it, I realized that the building of physics really collapsed this time."
Nathan's words still made Witten endure his temper and continued reading.
"...realized the standard model, the convergence of the infinite series after the series expansion...the mass of the W boson is actually higher..."
"What? The mass of the W boson is one thousandth higher than the previous standard model?"
The questions in Witten's mind grew, and with them, of course, the paper's doubts.
“In the past, the standard model’s calculations of the W boson have always been correct, and various experimental results have proven this. Why does this paper deny the experimental results?”
In the end, Witten shook his head and expressed disapproval.
The previous ones might be acceptable, but here, he felt it was unreasonable.
After all, before, theoretical and experimental conclusions on the mass of the W boson were consistent.
And isn’t the conclusion in this abstract tantamount to denying the experimental results?
This is certainly unreasonable.
But at this moment, Deligne next to him also looked over curiously.
He was quite interested in the collapse of the physics building, but of course he was more interested in why the attitudes of Cyborg and Witten were so different.
Just 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, the math genius." Cyborg nodded, then smiled and said to Witten: "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 trustworthy world.
Even if a person with a high credit rating gives a ridiculous conclusion, people will be skeptical to verify it.
And big guys like them have a very high credit rating, and so does Li Mu.
So Witten changed his previous attitude.
"But no matter what, I still want to say that this conclusion is very unbelievable and I need to read the entire article."
"Of course, this is why I came to you." Nathan Cyborg nodded and clicked on the full text he downloaded, while saying: "You will understand after you read it."
Witten didn't say anything, took the tablet and started looking at it.
Next to him, Deligne also joined in. He had been in contact with Edward Witten for so long. He also had some research on theoretical physics. Coupled with his mathematical foundation, it was still difficult to understand a theoretical physics paper. It's not big, at least the mathematical argument part doesn't pose many problems to him.
Soon, the several steps of mathematical derivation given in the paper first aroused Deligne's praise: "Such mathematical skills make his paper right. Among the mathematicians I know, he is the only one who has the best mathematical skills." The derivation can be so wonderful, just like Ramanujan once did."
Regarding Deligne's words, Witten nodded in agreement.
As the best mathematician among physicists, who even won the Fields Medal for his application of mathematics in physics, he has always appreciated such wonderful mathematical derivation.
However, for this paper, the mathematical method is relatively unimportant, and the conclusion is the most important.
However, this was only what he thought about temporarily.
After reading a few more pages, both he and Deligne looked shocked.
"Wait...! This place is really... incredible, isn't it?"
In the paper, an ingenious derivation technique surprised both Fields Medalists.
It's actually possible to do this...
"Using the method of infinitesimal transformation to achieve convergence of the originally divergent infinite series... He really did it!"
At this moment, Witten already believed what was said in the abstract. Li Mu had found a new expansion method that could replace perturbation expansion.
In any case, perturbation expansion is just a mathematical method and can be replaced by another method.
It's hard though.
But now, Li Mu's mathematical ability has proven the possibility.
Witten also realized that his past habit of using perturbation expansion had shaped his thinking.
And Li Mu's paper helped him break away from this stereotype.
He felt a little grateful in his heart, and at the same time his attitude towards this paper became more rigorous, and he even had the kind of respect that a Christian would have when reading the Bible.
This paper will inspire every mathematical scholar.
As they turned page by page, until finally, they had read the entire paper.
Neither Witten nor Deligne said a word for a while.
Until the end.
Deligne spoke first.
He recovered from the deep shock and said, "Omag, this paper is no longer using mathematics to solve problems, it is using God's language to solve problems, and he is God!"
As a very successful mathematical method, perturbation expansion still faces unsolvable problems such as non-perturbative phenomena.
But the new development method in Li Mu's paper almost made Deligne feel invulnerable.
This is a perfect mathematical theory!
At this time, he suddenly realized that his old friend next to him had not said anything, so he quickly shook Witten: "Witten, why don't you speak?"
Witten finally moved.
He slumped back in his 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, the prediction you just made came true."
"I really saw the light."
(End of chapter)
