Although CERN is large in scale, its functions are no different from other collider centers in the world. They provide evidence for various physical theories through experiments and test whether various physical hypotheses are consistent with reality.

In a sense, this work is the same as Lu Qiujian's cracking of the Poincaré conjecture. The only difference is that the cost of testing physical hypotheses is much higher than that of mathematical conjectures; high efforts will naturally lead to high returns.

Once a theory is tested to be credible, then mankind will be one step closer to revealing the truth about the universe.

Therefore, thousands of scientists, engineers and a larger number of assistants and interns in Cern serve physical theorists such as Higgs and Witten, and all physicists who have the ability to let Cern verify their theories are

There are at most about twenty people who stand at the top of the pyramid and search every corner of the world, and the Higgs trio are all on this list.

Of course, the Higgs is luckier than Witten. Although the Higgs boson is difficult to find, there are only two choices: finding it and not finding it. If the experiment successfully finds the Higgs boson, then hopefully

The Gus mechanism will be established, the three pillars of matter and motion will be perfected, physics will usher in a new chapter, and the Higgs trio will quickly ascend to the podium of the Nobel Prize in Physics

.

If the Higgs boson is never found or other products are discovered from experiments that negate the Higgs mechanism, then the Higgs mechanism will be proven wrong and theorists can start to construct a new theory.

Edward Witten was not so lucky. His main contributions include the proof of the positive energy theorem of general relativity, supersymmetry and Morse theory, topological quantum field theory, the establishment of superstring theory and the conjecture on the existence of m-theory.

etc.

However, his core work, superstring theory, just encountered a big crisis in 2003. The idea of ​​string landscape. The so-called string landscape, simply speaking, means that superstring theory is actually a collection of a large number of possible alternative theories (these alternatives

Most of the theories have not been fully constructed and discussed, and the construction is extremely difficult, but we can predict their existence). People who did string theory in the early years believed that there is a method/principle that can finally eliminate this situation. Leave

The only theory available for experimentation

Test its predictions. However, many years have passed and this principle has not appeared. In order to achieve a certain harmony in superstring theory, it may be necessary to consider the number of correct alternative theories to reach more than 10^500 (cala force-yau compactness).

method of curling high-dimensional space), which means that no matter what phenomenon you find in the experiment, you can almost expect to find one from 10^500 alternative theories to explain this experimental phenomenon, which leads to string theory

It is almost impossible to falsify.

To put it simply, no matter what results experimental physicists get from the laboratory, they will be included in the range foreseen by string theory. This in turn makes superstring theory lose the chance to be confirmed through experiments!

Higgs can still wait patiently for the next experiment of the LHC, and pray to God to bless him to live until the day when the Higgs boson appears; while Witten has almost lost the chance to face his own theory through experiments and gain

A chance for a Nobel Prize!

What Edward Witten has lost is not just a Nobel Prize in Physics. If the blueprint of superstring theory is finally confirmed to be the truth of the universe, then this will be a revolution of the same height as Newton's classical mechanics revolution and Einstein's modern physics revolution.

In the revolution of physics, several founders and leaders of string theory, Edward Witten, will be one of the drafters of the physics paradigm standing at the height of Einstein, Dirac, Heisenberg and others in the long future.

It is a pity that the crisis caused by the string landscape idea shattered the hopes of Witten and others. String theory seems to have no way out in a short time. Perhaps it will slowly decline after a long period of time without substantial progress.

must.

Of course, being able to become one of the top scientists in the world, Edward Witten is not so easily defeated. He still appears in Cern from time to time, and maybe Lu Qiujian will meet him next time he goes there.

Putting Edward Witten's misfortune aside, Lu Qiujian thought about the wording of his speech at the exchange meeting for a while. The problem that needed to be solved now was to get Higgs interested in his own point of view.

"Welcome to the Hebrew University!" Furstenberg took them off the bus at the school gate. The Hebrew University has been established for nearly 80 years, and Einstein was the first member of the school's board of trustees.

; Perhaps it is for this reason that Hebrew University attaches great importance to mathematics and science and engineering. After years of struggle, Hebrew University's science ranking has reached the top fifty in the world.

"This is the communication place I prepared for you. Can you see what's missing?" After not walking far, everyone came to a small and well-equipped multi-functional hall, which was equipped with whiteboards, projectors, laptops, etc.

.

"No, it's already good!" Lu Qiujian shook his head and said. At this time, Natalie also rushed over and was talking to the staff at the door. Lu Qiujian waved at this, and the staff let her in.

Before the staff brought the coffee, Higgs looked at Lu Qiujian impatiently, "Shall we start now?"

"Okay!" Seeing that Professor Furstenberg, the host, had no objection. Lu Qiujian took out the USB flash drive from his pocket and walked to the computer to open his paper, then adjusted the projector to project the article on the screen.

After everything was ready, he started his speech, "As we all know, when analyzing the data generated by the collision experiment, mathematical methods such as sub-distribution functions and large number statistics are used. However, in the previous stage of my work,

It is found that the current method commonly used in physics does not seem to be the most efficient choice."

While explaining, he clicked the mouse to show his paper line by line to the physicists and mathematicians present, as well as Natalie, a graduate student in Middle Eastern culture and history at Hebrew University.

Everyone present had different reactions. Although Natalie couldn't understand what Lu Qiujian said at all, his confidence and ease were enough to make her intoxicated.

The Higgs trio frowned and fell into deep thought. After all, their major was physics, and the mathematical knowledge explained by Lu Qiujian was a bit profound for them.
Chapter completed!