After Xiang Nan and Peggy entered CERN, they were busy attending various lectures and meetings until late at night before returning to the hotel exhausted.
However, although both of them were tired, they both felt that they had gained a lot.
Especially Xiang Nan, in addition to learning knowledge, the most important thing is that he broadened his horizons and expanded his contacts.
Present today are not only top scholars and professors, but also editors-in-chief of top journals and magazines, senior figures from various scientific research institutions, and top universities.
Getting to know them will be very beneficial to Xiang Nan's future development.
Of course, Xiang Nan also knows that the so-called connections are not how many great people he knows, but how many great people know him.
The essence of human connections is the exchange of interests. If you don't have the benefits that others want, then your connections will be useless.
Fortunately, Xiang Nan is not an idle person. His research on the Kuiper belt is very clever, and he is the discoverer of TOI700d, and he is also famous in the field of astrophysics.
Especially since he is still very young, only twenty-six years old, and has a bright future. Therefore, there are also many people who are willing to get to know him, which greatly expands Xiang Nan's network of contacts.
…
After returning to the hotel room, the first question I faced was how to sleep at night.
"..." Peggy looked at the double bed, her brows furrowed into a knot.
Do you really want to sleep in the same bed as Xiang Nan tonight? ! She wasn't mentally prepared yet.
"Don't worry, it's easy to handle." Xiang Nan waved his hand and then asked the hotel for an extra quilt, which he spread directly on the floor. "Okay, you sleep on the bed and I'll sleep on the floor."
"How is that possible? I'm your assistant. If you want to sleep, I should sleep on the floor." When Peggy saw it, she quickly stopped her.
"Okay, I'm a man and you're a woman. Can I let you sleep on the floor while I sleep on the bed? Then who am I?" Xiang Nan waved his hand and said, "Don't shirk anymore."
"Raj, you are a bit discriminatory against women." Peggy heard this and shook her head.
"I'm not discriminating against women, but men's physiques are generally much better than women's. The floor is so hard that it's not suitable for resting, so I should sleep on it." Xiang Nan explained, "I'm not discriminating, I'm facing reality. .”
Peggy had no choice but to nod after hearing what he said.
After the two of them finished washing, they went to bed separately.
To be honest, the floor is really not suitable for sleeping.
Mainly because it's too hard. Although Xiang Nan put a layer of quilt under him, he still felt panicked.
It's just that he was too embarrassed to go back on his words once he said it, so he had to endure it secretly.
Fortunately, after taking a long flight and listening to lectures for a long time, he was really tired, so he didn't hold back for long and soon fell asleep.
…
Suddenly, the sound of the alarm clock woke them up.
"Peggy, get up quickly." Xiang Nan greeted.
Today is a great day to conduct the ALICE experiment, and they must not miss it.
"Yes." Peggy sat down immediately and rubbed her sleepy eyes.
Seeing Xiang Nan getting up from the ground and beating his back with his fists, she quickly asked, "Raj, is it uncomfortable to sleep on the floor?"
Xiang Nan grinned and pretended to be strong, "Don't worry about me, just go and wash up."
In fact, after sleeping on the floor for a night, when he woke up early, he felt that all the bones in his body were sore.
But since it was his own choice, there was no point in complaining to Peggy.
After washing up, Xiang Nan, Peggy and the group members had breakfast, and then took a car to the European Center for Nuclear Physics, preparing to watch today's hadron collision experiment.
After eating breakfast, everyone took the car to the experimental center again.
Although they had arrived very early, when they arrived at the scene, they were surprised to find that many people had gathered in the experimental center.
Today is the first time that the Hadron Collider has been put into use, and it is also the first time that humans have simulated the initial state of the universe after the Big Bang.
It can be said that this experiment itself is a groundbreaking feat. It is a great honor for all scientists to be able to watch this experiment up close.
What's more, this experiment will also produce a large amount of data. These data contain the mysteries of the universe. If they can be deciphered, humankind's understanding of the universe will rise to a new level.
Therefore, everyone was in a mood of anticipation and apprehension, and the scene was filled with a solemn and tense atmosphere.
…
At half past ten, the ALICE experiment was officially held.
The first beam of protons, as thick as a hair, was injected into the collider, which was buried a hundred meters underground.
Everyone held their breath and looked up at the big screen in the experimental center.
Five seconds later, the signal was displayed on the big screen. This proves that the experiment is going well.
Seeing this scene, everyone present could not help but applaud.
Nearly an hour later, the first proton beam penetrated the collider.
After another four hours of sophisticated debugging, the second proton beam was injected into the collider in the opposite direction.
After some further debugging, the first proton beam and the second proton beam began to accelerate separately.
The collider at full power will flow trillions of particles through a 27-kilometer-long underground tunnel at high speed, with a maximum speed of nearly 300,000 kilometers per second, which is equivalent to 99.99% of the speed of light.
At such a high speed, the proton beam can surge through the tunnel tens of thousands of times per second, and the energy of a single beam can reach seven trillion electron volts. When two proton beams collide, the scene is naturally extremely shocking, no less than Mars hitting the Earth.
However, the proton beam is only as thick as a hair, and the collision process cannot be seen with the naked eye.
What people can see now is just various data from the detector.
But even so, people are still excited.
Everyone looked up at the screen with eager anticipation in their hearts.
Even though everyone has been standing for nearly six hours and has not eaten lunch or dinner. But no one was willing to leave.
It was not until 8 o'clock in the evening that the ALICE trial officially came to an end.
But this is also a new beginning.
The ALICE trial generated a large amount of experimental data, and everyone will have to analyze these data in the next few months or even years.
From these massive data, we can decipher the mysteries of the universe. Its difficulty is no less than cracking the password of a bank vault.
However, Xiang Nan has confidence in himself.
Because he had already read relevant papers and reports before coming here, he had the secret key to cracking the password.
In this way, the difficulty of cracking will naturally be greatly reduced.
At that time, when everyone is still at a loss, he will be able to take the first step, publish relevant papers first, and harvest the fruits of victory before everyone else.
Therefore, Xiang Nan is now full of ambition.
