Chapter 148: Wei Teng's Request

In the office, Witten held the manuscript in his hand and remained motionless for more than ten minutes before he came back to his senses.

However, after he came back to his senses, he did not speak, but sat down at the desk with the manuscript, took out a stack of manuscripts from the drawer, and began to check the data on the manuscript with a pen.

Although the calculation of the "proton radius mystery" on this manuscript has not been completed, it can still be seen that the author's ideas are quite ingenious.

The author constructed a new method in this manuscript, which was named "On the New Calculation Method of Proton Radius and Its Extended Significance". Based on this method, he re-analyzed the physical phenomenon that gamma rays can produce positive and negative electron pairs near heavy atomic nuclei, and consolidated the view that the intrinsic essence of protons is a quantized vortex closed electromagnetic field.

This is a brand-new method. Although the calculation method on the manuscript is currently only for the radius of protons, Witten can keenly perceive that it should be able to be extended to general particles.

For example, particles such as electrons, neutrons, and fermions.

But what Witten feels sorry for is that these things on the manuscript are still a semi-finished product, and are still a little short of a complete calculation method.

But this is enough. The ideas and methods in it, as well as the research on particle physics, are enough for him to see the author's talent in physics.

These are things that an ordinary physicist may not be able to study in his lifetime.

The boy brought by Deligne deserves his praise.

No, that's not right~

Staring at the manuscript in his hand, Witten suddenly came back to his senses.

These things in his hand are not all of the boy's achievements. This is just a small part of his achievements. His greater achievements are in the field of mathematics.

Although the core of his research is not in mathematics, as a scholar who has won the Fields Medal, he must know what major discoveries or achievements have been made in the field of mathematics.

And in the past two years, the most important achievement in the entire mathematics community is the Weyl-Berry conjecture proved by the boy in front of him.

At the age of 18, he proved a world-class mathematical conjecture and had such in-depth research in physics. This is simply a freak.

It's just like what Deligne said. If he and Deligne are both geniuses, then this boy is a monster.

There are not many people who can have in-depth research in both mathematics and physics at the same time.

This is why he has never found a suitable student to inherit his legacy. His string theory, M theory and many other achievements require advanced mathematics to fully understand.

Thinking of this, Witten's eyes fell on Xu Chuan.

Perhaps, the young man brought by Deligne is really capable of inheriting his legacy. He is indeed a monster.

He is a very decisive person. Since he has determined his idea, he will not hesitate and accept this student.

After solving the problem of double mentors, Witten said: "The calculation method of the 'proton radius mystery' on these manuscripts has not been completed. How long will it take you to complete it?"

Xu Chuan thought for a while and said: "If the focus of study and research is biased towards this direction, it may take about two to three months."

Xu Chuan said a relatively conservative time. In fact, if he goes all out, he can complete the calculation method of the 'proton radius mystery' in at most half a month.

This is also the first thing he has to do after coming to Princeton.

Because in July he will go to the European Atomic Energy Experimental Organization with his tutor, and perhaps he can take advantage of this opportunity to apply for a proton collider or particle collider to complete the data verification and completely solve the problem of the "proton radius mystery".

Witeng nodded and said, "I think you already have a complete idea, so I will give you some difficulty."

After a pause, he continued, "If you can complete this calculation method within 45 days, I can take you to the LHC and apply to borrow the proton collider there to see if you can verify your calculation data and completely solve this problem."

Hearing this, Xu Chuan was delighted and quickly said, "Then I'll trouble you, tutor. I will complete the calculation method for the "proton radius mystery" as soon as possible."

With Witeng's help, borrowing the proton collider of the European Atomic Energy Experimental Organization can be said to be a sure thing.

This tutor's status among the many professors and researchers of the LHC is not to say the top three, but can be ranked in the top five.

On the side, Professor Deligne said: "Go back and prepare well. You will join Princeton's intensive study in the next period of time. I hope you can find a way in both mathematics and physics. I will chat with Witten again."

Xu Chuan nodded, said goodbye to the two mentors and turned to leave.

After Xu Chuan left, Edward Witten drank a sip of coffee and said: "Speaking of which, this matter is really not in line with your character. I didn't expect you to bring your student here to let him follow another mentor in physics."

Deligne smiled lightly and said: "Aren't you the same?"

Hearing this, Witten was silent for a while.

Yes, he is the same.

After knowing that Xu Chuan had become Deligne's student, he also chose to accept this student, which was not in line with his character.

In the office, the atmosphere was silent for a while.

Suddenly, Professor Deligne said: "Did you know that his proof of the Weyl-Berry conjecture was verified by me personally, and when he proved the conjecture, I happened to be present, and he was standing on the stage. Without saying a word, he completed the proof neatly. The moment he dropped the last point, I seemed to see the figure of my mentor. "

Hearing this, Witten was stunned for a moment and said in surprise: "Are you sure?"

Deligne nodded and said, "At that moment, I did feel that way."

Witten raised his eyebrows and said, "That's really an incredible compliment."

In the world of mathematics, if a young mathematician is to be praised, he is usually given the title of Grothendieck's successor.

For example, Peter Schulz, the youngest W3 full professor in the Germanic country, the genius who created the mathematical tool "P·S progressive field-geometric theory" is known as the successor of Grothendieck.

As for those who can be compared with Grothendieck, looking at the modern mathematics of the 20th century and more than a hundred years ago, those with such a reputation can be counted on the palm of a hand.

Anyone with this reputation has made great contributions to the development of mathematics and even science.

For example, Felix Klein, yes, he made the bottle that the entire Pacific Ocean cannot fill.

Or Henri Poincaré, recognized as the leading mathematician of the early 20th century, is considered by the mathematical community to be the last person with comprehensive knowledge of mathematics and its applications. Even Pope Grothendieck, in a certain Not as good as him in some aspects.

Deligne smiled and continued: "No matter what, he is indeed a genius that is rare to see in a century. That's for sure. Maybe we can't do much, but there is still something we can do before he fully grows up." Isn’t it?”

Witten nodded and said: "Indeed, such a genius should not be affected by too much outside influence before the golden stage of academic pursuits has passed."

After coming out of the Institute for Advanced Study, Xu Chuan walked on the campus of Princeton University.

Coming here again, he must have a somewhat complicated feeling in his heart.

But before long, he was stopped.

"Hello, are you Xu Chuan who proved the Weyl-Berry conjecture?"

Hearing the voice, Xu Chuan was a little curious. Could it be that there was another Xu Chuan who proved Weyl-Berry's conjecture? When he looked up, he saw a blond girl with blue eyes. She was not very old. She seemed to be from Princeton University. student, but the memory in his mind has no impression.

"It's me, who are you?" Professor Xu Chuan stopped and asked curiously.

After confirming that the person in front of her was the person she was looking for, the girl showed a bright smile: "Nice to meet you. My name is Paxia Miris, and I am a doctoral candidate at Princeton University."

"Hello, it's nice to meet you too. Do you have any questions for me?" Xu Chuan nodded and said hello.

"Can I add your Facebook?" Pasia Miris took out her phone and asked.

Xu Chuan was stunned for a moment. He was about to agree, but then he remembered that he had not registered a Facebook or Twitter account in his life. He smiled sheepishly and said, "Sorry, I don't think I have one yet." Not registered with Facebook.”

Hearing this, Paxia Miris looked a little surprised: "Do you need me to register one for you? Or can you give me your email address?"

Although he was a little surprised about the girl's purpose, Xu Chuan didn't think much about it. He thought he had met his crush or a student who wanted to exchange mathematics with him, so he casually gave out his email account.

In the United States, although the use of chat tools to communicate is quite common, its popularity is far not as high as in China.

Even for Facebook, the penetration rate was only about 70% in 20 years, while in China, the penetration rate of Weixin was as high as over 85% in 20 years.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that Weixin does not have any competitors in the country.

Here, people are more accustomed to keeping in touch with friends and obtaining information and services through email.

Compared to everyone in China who communicates through WeChat for everything, Americans are more accustomed to communicating a lot through emails. On average, people send and receive two to three hundred emails every day, and more than 80% of people have at least two or more active email accounts.

This seems incredible to Chinese people. The communication efficiency of things like email is far less than that of instant messaging software. Why is it that the United States, which is obviously more developed, still clings to this backward thing.

After giving his email address to Paxia Miris, Xu Chuan took a step to leave. Unexpectedly, he followed after just two steps.

Xu Chuan was a little curious and asked, "Do you have anything else?"

Paxia Miris smiled shyly and said, "Have you completed the admission procedures? If not, I can take you there."

Xu Chuan glanced at Paxia Miris, shook his head and said, "That's no need, I've already taken care of it."

"Then have you chosen your mentor? If not, I recommend my mentor Mariam Mirzakhani to you."

"Marian Mirzakhani?" Xu Chuan glanced at Pasia Miris in front of him in confusion. He naturally knew the name Mariam Mirzakhani.

This is one of the only two women who have won the Nobel Prize in Mathematics Fields Medal.

The other is Maryna Viazovska from Kiev, Ukraine, but she will not win the award now, but in 2022.

If we only look at today, Liane Mirzakhani is indeed the only woman in mathematics who has won the Fields Medal.

In 2014, Mirzakhani won the Fields Medal for "outstanding contributions to dynamics and geometry under Riemann surfaces and their moduli spaces."

This broke the vacancy of no female Fields Medal winners.

But in Xu Chuan's memory, Maryane Mirzakhani did not seem to be a mathematics professor at Princeton University. She worked at Stanford University.

So he didn't understand why Pahiya Miris came to him.

Of course, when asking this question, Pahiya Miris said without any hesitation: "If you want, I can let my mentor come to communicate with you in person and transfer you to Stanford University."

Hearing this, Xu Chuan realized that the girl in front of him was here to poach people.

"Thank you for your invitation, but I'm sorry, I refuse."

Xu Chuan shrugged and rejected the invitation directly.

What a joke?

Even if he hasn't chosen a mentor yet, he won't consider going to Stanford University.

Although Stanford University is also one of the top five colleges in the United States, it is not as good as Princeton in mathematics and physics.

Don't forget that Princeton also has a Princeton Institute for Advanced Study. The two blend together to form the Princeton School.

Since its rise in World War II, the Princeton School has almost monopolized all the top mathematicians in the world. It can be said that basically any famous mathematician will come here to study and make a pilgrimage.

He can learn much more here than going to Stanford University. Let him give up the opportunity to study in Princeton and transfer to Stanford University. Is there something wrong with his brain?

In addition, a Fields winner as a mentor is not that attractive to him at all.

Not to mention that he has become a disciple of two Fields Medal winners, he himself has a probability of more than 90%, or more than 99%, of winning the Fields Medal at the mathematics conference two years later.

Originally, it was only about 80%, but he expanded the Xu-Weyl-Berry theorem in the first two months, extending it to the astronomical community, and using this theorem to extend a lot of results, including parameter calculations for various cosmic bodies.

This added a lot of points to him, covering up his youth and the defect of only having achievements in this area.

Many major awards in the mathematics community, such as the Fields Medal, the Wolf Prize, the Abel Prize and other top awards, do not pay much attention to data, they pay more attention to mathematical results.

Just like Grigori Perelman, the super giant who proved the Poincare conjecture, before winning the Fields Medal in 2006, he almost refused all the mathematics awards awarded to him, but the mathematics conference still awarded him the Fields Medal in 2006.

It is just a pity that this big guy still did not go to the mathematics conference to receive the award in 2006, and later refused the Millennium Problem Award issued by the Clay Mathematics Institute and refused the reward of one million gold.

Although the Weyl-Berry conjecture he proved is not as difficult and level as the Poincare conjecture, a mathematical conjecture at the end of T2 level and the top of T3 level is still enough for him to win a Fields Medal steadily.

The reason why it was not so safe before was that on the one hand, he was too young, and on the other hand, the mathematics conference in 2018 could really be said to be a battle of gods, with top big guys gathered.

Not to mention Peter Schultz, who won a Fields Medal.

There are also Aksa Venkatesh from India, Alessio Figali from Rome, Kochel Birkar from Iran, etc.

These people are all top mathematicians, and almost all of them have made great breakthroughs in mathematics in their respective fields. It is as difficult as climbing to the sky to snatch a Fields Medal from them.