In the auditorium, Chen Zhengping walked over and looked at his student with a smile.
"Thank you, teacher." Xu Chuan responded with a smile.
"The radius of the proton is much smaller than in previous experiments. Your new discovery will shock the entire physics world."
Chen Zhengping sighed and said that he really did not expect that Xu Chuan could really solve the problem of "the mystery of the proton radius".
When he originally proposed to Xu Chuan to explore and research in this area, he was just thinking about letting him return to the path of physics.
Unexpectedly, in just a few months, he would have solved the problem of the proton radius mystery.
This is one of the most important issues in particle physics currently.
Xu Chuan smiled shyly and said modestly: "It's not completely confirmed yet. Other experiments will be needed to verify it in the future to determine whether this theory is correct."
"But data doesn't lie. It's just a matter of time before your theories and ideas are verified."
Before Chen Zhengping could speak, another voice rang in everyone's ears, and Professor Witten and Professor Wilzek walked over side by side.
After saying hello to the two of them, Xu Chuan introduced each other to each other.
"NTU is a very good university. If you have the opportunity, you can have more exchanges. Academician Chen, you have cultivated a very good student."
After hearing that Chen Zhengping was Xu Chuan's university tutor, Witten smiled and extended his hand.
Chen Zhengping was a little ashamed and said with a smile: "Actually, I didn't teach him anything. He made these things by himself."
Witten smiled and didn't care. Chinese people are like this, they have always been very humble.
For a scholar, no matter how talented he is, he cannot do without the patient guidance and guidance of his mentor.
Just like him, without the leadership of David Gross, I am afraid that he would not be able to make achievements in the fields of string theory, gauge field theory, and supersymmetric gauge field theory.
During college, a good tutor can help students avoid at least half of the detours, and its importance is self-evident.
.......
After the review was completed and the included materials of Xu Chuan's paper on solving the mystery of the proton radius were confirmed, a press conference was held to the outside world, eager to announce this new achievement.
If there are no other more important discoveries in the second half of this year, this will be the most important research result in the entire physics community this year.
The radius of the proton has been accurately determined, and the previous mistakes have been found. The physics community has a more accurate value.
There is no doubt that this achievement has a significant impact on particle physics. If the radius of the proton is reduced by less than 0.8 femtometers, the Standard Model will be changed accordingly.
Because of the strong interaction force inside the proton that is related to the charge radius, if it exceeds the standard value, then the most basic things will be affected.
But fortunately, among the current observational data, the smallest data is 0.831 femtometers.
Although it is a full 0.05 femtometer less than the previous 0.879 femtometer, it has not yet reached the point of affecting the standard model.
.......
With the press conference, the solution to the proton radius mystery quickly spread to the entire physics community.
Some media reporters who were interested found Xu Chuan, who was still there, and tried to interview him.
However, Xu Chuan was not very interested in these things and basically rejected them.
This increasingly aroused the curiosity of journalists in the news media. The Times Daily, which never sets, even found Edward Witten and asked him to help bridge the gap.
Xu Chuan could not refuse the offer from his mentor Witten.
After all, a large part of the credit for being able to solve the mystery of the proton's radius so quickly this time was due to the proton accelerator that Witten applied for for him.
Without this, or replacing it with an accelerator from another laboratory, this problem may not be solved.
After all, the proton accelerators and other equipment in most laboratories or scientific research institutions simply cannot meet the requirements of eliminating the metal container and directly placing the hydrogen atom cloud into the acceleration pipeline.
After choosing a time, Xu Chuan accepted an interview with The Times in an office.
"Hello, Mr. Xu Chuan, I heard that you have solved the mystery of the proton radius this time, a problem that has troubled the physics community for several years. Can you please introduce it in detail?"
In the office, the reporter holding a black microphone handed the microphone to Xu Chuan's mouth.
"Of course, the mystery of the proton radius is..."
Xu Chuan briefly and formally introduced this issue.
The Times is a comprehensive national daily newspaper that never sets. It is affiliated to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. It is a newspaper that has exerted a huge influence on world politics, economy, and culture. It has long been
It is unanimously regarded as the number one mainstream newspaper in the country where the sun never sets.
Although I don't know why the other party is interested in me, when being interviewed by such a newspaper, I must be careful about my words and deeds.
If he accidentally gets tricked by the other party, then he may not be the only one who is embarrassed.
These Western media are very willing to directly elevate personal identity to the level of the country, especially when facing China.
Many people have been tricked by these unscrupulous media in the past, intercepting some interviews out of context and completely distorting the meaning of the interviewees.
"That's it." The reporter from The Times didn't know whether she understood or not. She nodded and continued to ask questions.
"Mr. Xu Chuan, I heard that you are now an official researcher?"
"Yes."
Xu Chuan nodded and replied that this question could be found on the official list and he could not deny it.
The reporter lady quickly followed up with the question: "If I remember correctly, you have joined less than three months ago. At this point in time, other researchers are basically interns, and you have already become a formal researcher. May I ask?
Is there any special trick?"
Hearing this question, Xu Chuan's heart skipped a beat. After thinking for a while, he replied: "There is no special trick. I applied in accordance with the normal rules and regulations."
Upon hearing this answer, a trace of disappointment flashed in the reporter's eyes.
They had read the information about this young man before they came here. He is quite young at eighteen years old. He must not have had many interviews like this. Maybe they can dig out something interesting.
But unfortunately, this young man seems to be relatively sophisticated and is not able to handle their problems at all.
...
After spending more than half an hour accepting an interview with The Times, Xu Chuan returned to the hotel.
He didn't know how the Times would publish this interview, but he had tried his best to pay attention to the wording in the interview, hoping that the other party would not catch any loopholes.
For interviews with newspapers and magazines that are not about natural science, it is better to have fewer contacts.
God knows how these media reporters will evaluate him, or how they will take screenshots of an interview out of context, or use it as a headline-grabber.
For example, headlines like "Young Chinese scholars confirm small proton radius, the Standard Model may be seriously affected" are similar to domestic marketing accounts. Given the urility of these foreign media, they are definitely possible.
Anyway, don’t overestimate the conscience of these media reporters. It’s unclear whether they have it or not.
...
After the Times completed the interview, they published the contents of the interview the next day.
Maybe it was because I didn't find any interesting loopholes in the interview, or maybe it was just my conscience? Anyway, the content published in The Times the next day did not include any words taken out of context, but focused on Xu Chuan's age.
"...The researcher who solved the mystery of the proton radius is an eighteen-year-old student from Princeton..."
In newspapers, the Times focused on Xu Chuan's age rather than on the mystery of the proton radius.
I have to say that this approach did attract the attention of many people.
For ordinary people watching the excitement, the solution to an incomprehensible problem is far less controversial than the fact that the person who solves the problem is only eighteen years old.
After all, this age is really surprising.
With the popularity and traffic, other media have also begun to follow suit.
After all, news involving that Eastern country has always been more popular in the West.
As other media followed up and dug out, more information about Xu Chuan was also exposed.
"Shocked, the young scholar who solved the mystery of the proton radius and discovered the new proton radius turned out to be a mathematician."
"After solving the world-class mathematical problem of Weyl-berry's conjecture, he actually reached out to..."
"Mathematics and Physics are blooming. An 18-year-old boy from China solved two super difficult problems in one year."
Reports by many media reporters suddenly pushed the popularity of the news to a new level.
Solving a physics problem at the age of eighteen is already shocking enough.
Before that, this young man from China actually solved a world-class mathematical problem, which is even more unbelievable.
On the communication forums and websites commonly used in physics, physicists and physics students are constantly discussing:
[Incredible, the mystery of the proton’s radius has been solved?]
[The press conference I watched seems to be yes.]
[Is it because metal containers interfere with the scattering of high-energy electron beams? Why did no one in the physics community pay attention to this problem in the past? 】
[Our school was just about to restart the proton radius observation experiment. When we heard the news, we immediately suspended it.]
[I heard that the person who solved this problem seems to be an eighteen-year-old boy.]
[Really, eighteen years old, is this too young? 】
[Yes, he is indeed only 18 years old. He is currently studying for a Ph.D. at Princeton, and his tutor is Edward Witten. What’s even more amazing is that he only solved a world-class mathematical conjecture in the mathematics community in the first half of this year, and in the second half of the year he solved a world-class mathematical conjecture.
The field of physics has solved a new difficult problem.]
[Incredible, he solved a major problem in the fields of mathematics and physics in one year, and then you tell me now that he is still a student. Am I crazy or is the world crazy? 】
[This is a super academic who we can’t even see his back when looking up at him.]
【The next Einstein? Or the next Newton?】
.......
Xu Chuan was unaware of the heated discussion on the Internet. At this moment, he had returned to the hotel and was rushing to write his thesis.
Although the review of the report meeting has been completed, he still needs to prepare the paper and materials and submit them.
After all, it is an experiment completed with the help of special equipment, and you have the right to include and use these things.
Of course, this does not affect Xu Chuan's ability to resubmit it to other physics journals.
Because the publication and inclusion of journals are different from such organizations, the former can be browsed and cited by others, while the latter is basically limited to internal personnel.
However, with the inclusion, the review process will be much simpler when papers on the mystery of the proton radius are submitted.
First of all, the papers that have been included will be accepted immediately, and then the review editor will find a staff member to check. As long as the verification is correct and there are no problems, the paper can be officially published.
In terms of process and time, it is much less than ordinary paper review.
However, this is understandable. After all, it is a paper that has been reviewed once, so there is no need to review it again. Repeated review is a waste of time, and your reputation is still guaranteed.
........
After spending some time to sort out what he had already written, Xu Chuan stood up and stretched.
The paper on the mystery of the proton radius has already been selected for submission to the "Physical Review d" published by the American Physical Society.
Previously, he had already submitted a paper to the other party on the calculation method of the 'proton radius mystery', so submitting another paper was not a big deal in the past.
No physics journal would reject this kind of paper, which is very important to the entire physics community.
After processing the information, Xu Chuan got up, washed his face, and then went downstairs to eat.
In the elevator, he bumped into Chen Zhengping, who was also about to go downstairs.
"Go downstairs to eat? Together?" Chen Zhengping asked with a smile.
Xu Chuan nodded and followed Chen Zhengping to the restaurant on the first floor.
"When are you going to go back to Princeton?" Chen Zhengping asked in the restaurant while picking food on a metal dinner plate.
Xu Chuan thought for a moment and said, "Teacher, how is your work progressing? Do you still need help?"
This time, I came with Chen Zhengping, and all reimbursements for air tickets, accommodation, meals, etc. were all taken along this teacher's route.
Now that he was finished with his work, he was going to see if there was anything Chen Zhengping needed help with.
After all, with his ability, he can still do something.
Hearing this, Chen Zhengping stopped and asked, "Isn't your work here finished? Are you not ready to go back to Princeton to continue your studies?"
Xu Chuan: "I'm still sorting out papers and materials, and it will take some time."
"Besides, when I come here this time, I am nominally participating in your project as a teacher, and all reimbursements and other expenses are on your side. I still have to do something after all."
"And I'm very interested in the Higgs particle. If I can participate in the project, I can have more experience and learn more."
Chen Zhengping nodded and said: "If it doesn't affect you, you are welcome to join my project team at any time."
