Chapter 119 Betelgeuses scientific research project
Xu Chuan did not expect that the Morning Star Mathematics Prize would be awarded more than two months in advance because of him. At first, he thought it was an observatory application or some other good news, but he did not expect it to be this.
Although this is indeed good news from an honorary point of view, it would be the same to him if the Morning Star Mathematics Prize is awarded in advance to May or in July or August.
But if other people knew about this idea, they would definitely say that he got an advantage and behaved well.
If the Chinese Fields Medal can change the awarding time, it will be a lifetime bragging right.
But to him, this doesn't really seem to be a big deal.
For him, achievements and academic breakthroughs are far more important than gaining glory. Even if he doesn't win any awards after proving Weyl-berry's conjecture, he won't mind too much.
It may be very pretentious to say this, but that's what he really thinks in his heart.
Sooner or later, or not, he is there.
.......
"You don't seem very excited. Why, do you think the Morning Star Mathematics Award is low-level?"
In the office, Zhang Zhengping looked at Xu Chuan's condition and asked with a smile.
"That's not true. Winning the Chinese Fields Medal is a worthwhile event for any mathematician. But I'm a little worried. Won't it be awarded two months in advance? Won't people gossip?
?" Xu Chuan asked curiously.
"Don't worry about this. Just wait and receive the award. No one will gossip."
Chen Zhengping smiled and continued: "Oh, one more thing. The astronomical equipment and observatory you applied for before have been approved and will be used from March 10th to March 20th.
Twenty days, during these twenty days you can use various professional equipment in the astronomy department at will."
"Of course, because this is a scientific research project like yours, you need to pay a certain amount of royalties, but these can be spent from the scientific research project you applied for."
"Don't worry about money. A total of 2.4 million has been approved for scientific research projects in the name of the follow-up expansion of Xu-Weir Berry's theorem."
Speaking of this, Chen Zhengping sighed: "For a freshman to take charge of a scientific research project worth more than two million yuan, this is probably the first case not only in NTU, but also in the whole of China, and even the whole world."
"
"The most funded scientific research project I participated in when I was in college was only 80,000 yuan."
"Without the contributions of great scholars like you, teachers, how could we be as prosperous as we are today?" Xu Chuan said with a smile.
"Okay, stop being poor."
Chen Zhengping rolled his eyes at Xu Chuan and continued: "About the scientific research project, this must be your first time here. Tomorrow you go find your senior brother Fan Pengyue. He can help you with the process procedures and documents.
Including things like the use of scientific research project funds and reimbursement, you can learn all about it."
"After all, with your development, it is estimated that there will be many subsequent scientific research projects, so you still need to be familiar with the processes that you should be familiar with."
Xu Chuan nodded in agreement. Although controlling scientific research funds and scientific research projects was very familiar to him, he still didn't really know what the domestic routine was.
On the other side, Chen Zhengping thought for a while and then added: "Oh, by the way, regarding your scientific research project this time, if you need to use some complex and sophisticated astronomical equipment, I suggest you hire someone from the astronomy or astrophysics department.
Doctoral student.”
"On the one hand, it is to avoid damaging the equipment, and on the other hand, they have more experience in operating these equipment and can more accurately observe the data you need."
"OK, all right."
Xu Chuan nodded. Even if Chen Zhengping didn't say anything about these things, he would still consider them.
He has expertise in the field of science. Although astronomy and physics are also physics, they are not related to his research in his previous life. He really doesn't know how to use those professional astronomical equipment to obtain the data he needs.
.......
After coming out of his tutor's office, the news that his application for the right to use astronomical equipment was approved made Xu Chuan happily look up at the sky.
Although the light pollution in the city is serious, the weather is good today, and it is also the time of night when the moon starts to rise, and the sparse stars hang clearly and brightly on the black curtain.
And in the east, there is a group of bright stars shining.
That is the constellation Orion, which is easily identifiable in the night sky. It consists of seven stars, four of which form a huge quadrilateral, and the three stars in the middle of the quadrilateral are arranged diagonally in a straight line.
Among this group of stars, there is a distinctive star on the upper left shoulder. It emits orange-red light visible to the naked eye, which is completely different from the other stars that emit cold white light.
This star is called Betelgeuse, and it is also the object of his observation this time.
Betelgeuse can be seen all year round in the northern hemisphere.
However, winter is the best time to observe it, especially at the end of December when it is easiest to find. It rises from the east at dusk and is located on the shoulder of Orion.
Viewed with the naked eye from Earth, it may be about the size of a fingernail.
But six hundred and forty light years away, it is a star much larger than the sun.
Physically speaking, Betelgeuse's current expansion radius is approximately 8 astronomical units (au).
If you placed it at the center of the solar system, Betelgeuse would probably extend all the way beyond the orbit of Jupiter.
In other words, if it is located in the center of the solar system, its surface will transcend the asteroid belt, reach and surpass the orbit of Jupiter, completely sweeping away Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Some people even think that it is enough to swallow up
Asteroid belt and Jupiter.
The reason for this cognitive bias is that the distance is too far, which prevents people from estimating the accurate diameter.
In addition to this, Betelgeuse itself is periodically changing its shape, coupled with variable star pulsation theory, and angular diameter changes with wavelength, and Betelgeuse has some complex, asymmetrical envelopes
etc., all of which make it impossible to determine its precise diameter.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Xu Chuan is very interested in this star with huge mass but whose life has reached its later years.
There are many mysteries in it. If you can solve some of them, it will be a historical record.
Now that the application for astronomical observation equipment has been approved, it means that we can study it in another week.
.......
Returning to his dormitory from his instructor's office, Xu Chuan temporarily put aside his research on the 'mystery of the proton radius' and turned his attention to Betelgeuse.
Before that, he had collected a lot of information about Betelgeuse, from basic star parameters to photos, to the complex dynamics of Betelgeuse's extended atmosphere and plume gas injection, etc.
He has seen these things once before, but they still feel magical.
For example, in 2009, an infrared interferometry study conducted by the Australian Infrared Research Institute showed that Betelgeuse has shrunk by 15% at an increasingly rapid rate since 1993, but its apparent magnitude has not been obvious.
darken.
In other words, its size has shrunk by 15%, but its brightness has not changed, neither getting brighter nor darker.
It's like a fat man who weighed 200 pounds lost 30 pounds and became 170 pounds, but he still looks as fat as before.
This unscientific.
Although scientists later gave some explanations, for example, this obvious contraction may be caused by shell activity in the extended atmosphere of the star, or by a large loss of stellar material.
But these explanations all have their own flaws.
For example, if the shell activity in the star's extended atmosphere caused the size to shrink, then the brightness of Betelgeuse should be significantly improved instead of almost unchanged.
Because if the shell activity in Betelgeuse's atmosphere shrinks, then with the shrinkage, the density of the star will become larger and larger, and materials such as hydrogen and helium in the shell will participate in the nuclear fusion reaction, and the brightness will decrease.
Significant improvement, rather than almost no change.
It's like forging iron. When a piece of red-hot iron shrinks in size under the impact of a forging hammer, the red color on the surface will gradually turn into hot white.
Although this description is a bit inappropriate, it is very vivid.
In addition, Betelgeuse is already a massive star in its later years and about to undergo a supernova explosion, so Xu Chuan is very interested in these changes in it.
It would be even more exciting if we could see it explode as a supernova in our lifetime.
.........
In the dormitory, Xu Chuan sorted out the information in his hands and took out a stack of white paper.
The black pen in his hand hovered over the white manuscript paper. After pondering for a moment, he started writing down data equations one by one.
"... δ2u/δt2＝Δu, t＞0, x∈Ω; u＝0, t≥0, x∈阸福
"...Δ=∑πj=1δ2/δx2j..."
Δ is the Laplacian operator, and δΩ is the boundary of Ω.
In order to find the standing wave solution to the problem, the separation of variables method is used, let u(t,x)=ψ(t)·φ(x), substitute this into equation (1) and take the boundary conditions into account, then for λ>0,
have:
Δφ/φ=ψtt/ψ=-λ......
.......
It is not that simple to calculate the shape and diameter of a star through the xu-weyl-berry theorem, nor can it be done by directly bringing the observed data into the formula and calculating it.
The first thing to do is to deform the xu-weyl-berry theorem to a certain extent, transform it from an equal-spectral fluctuation into a Sobolev space fluctuation, and then perform calculations through the amplitude function showing periodic oscillations.
This is a very troublesome task, but fortunately, for a common target, such as an ordinary star, or an ordinary black hole, only one deformation and wave conversion is enough.
It is an adaptable formula and is applicable to stars within a certain range of parameters.
If someone else were to complete this job, they might not be able to touch it for a month or two, but for Xu Chuan, this is something that is very familiar to him.
He is the founder of the xu-weyl-berry theorem. Except for the two conjecture proposers Weyl and Berry, no one is more familiar with the weyl-berry conjecture than him. Even the two founders may not be as familiar with it as he is.
Therefore, it can be said that the deformation and transformation of xu-weyl-berry theorem is like a duck in water.