An Interlude Amid the Bustling Work
The project to build a new generation of Particle Collider is so massive that it would take as long as any long-lived dynasty in Earth Era. Without subsequent Life Elixir, it would take ten generations to build one.
Now, at this moment, five hundred years have passed since the project was announced to have started.
All available Strong Artificial Intelligence have been deployed, including the comprehensive Strong Artificial Intelligence aboard the Lyra, and hundreds of billions of individual beings from the Crimson Flame Civilization are also involved in the construction. Yet, even so, after five hundred years, only three-quarters of the project has been completed.
The New Government also focused its main efforts on construction arrangements, and the military was not idle either. The fleet was divided into several sub-fleets to patrol those stars in batches.
Of course, not everyone is completely absorbed in the project. Many theoretical scientists, like Yue Yuan, become less busy once the project is on track.
Theoretical physicists have returned to their daily routines, and Yue Yuan is no exception.
However, today is a bit special.
Yue Yuan had just finished dealing with his daily affairs when he received a notification from the secretariat that Man Yuemei had returned from patrol with the Second Fleet.
Upon seeing the news, Yue Yuan was overjoyed. He hadn't seen Man Yuemei for over a hundred years, and her arrival now provided a perfect opportunity for a deeper conversation.
However, before he could have a proper conversation with Man Yuemei, he received news that Liu Miyan visiting.
When a great scientist comes to visit, Yue Yuan naturally cannot turn him away. However, perhaps because his mood was ruined, he did not Liu Miyan in his office, but instead asked him to go to the Command Center to meet him there.
As for Man Yuemei, she did not go with him. After Yue Yuan left, she stayed alone in the office, seemingly waiting for Yue Yuan to return.
Yue Yuan wasn't stupid; he understood what it meant.
"Chief, this is the application report for the use of the Particle Collider."
As soon as Yue Yuan arrived at the Command Center, he saw Liu Miyan coming towards him. At the same time, through the control of the chip implanted in his brain, Liu Miyan transmitted a document face-to-face to Yue Yuan's temporary file storage space.
What kind of Particle Collider application report?
"Isn't the Space Multi-Point Particle Collider already there? Why do you need to apply for it yourself?" Seeing Liu Miyan's serious expression, Yue Yuan was full of doubt.
However, after glancing at Liu Miyan's expression report, he understood, and at the same time felt speechless.
Damn it, the new generation Particle Collider is only 30% complete, and this guy is already applying for research projects, and they're even handing them over directly to him. What kind of nonsense is this?
Yue Yuan was unaware that Liu Miyan had learned from Yi Kai that, according to procedure, research project applications are managed by relevant departments, so he didn't need to directly approach Yue Yuan.
However, this New Particle Collider was never built, so it wasn't included in the relevant department's management system, and the traditional application process was out of the question. But Liu Miyan wanted his team to be the first Research Team to use it. He felt that the sooner they had the right to use it, the more they could seize the initiative, and maybe the results of the Grand Unified Theory would be his team's. So he approached Yue Yuan.
"Hey Academician Liu, you applied way too early!" Yue Yuan couldn't help but complain.
"Not too early, not too early, just right." Liu Miyan with a thick face and a loud voice, "That is our chance to witness the creation of the universe. We will soon be able to glimpse the first stage of the five stages of the universe's development. If we don't hurry, other teams will snatch it away, and those guys in the team may complain about me for a hundred years."
"Is that all?" Yue Yuan raised an eyebrow. He still needed to go back and have a long talk with Man Yuemei!
"That's all!"
"Okay, approved."
Yue Yuan was too lazy to say much. Anyway, the New Particle Collider was built to be used, and it didn't matter to him which Research Team used it first.
As for the five stages of cosmic development mentioned by Liu Miyan, he is referring to one of the three popular cosmic outcome models in the scientific community: the Big Freeze Hypothesis. The other two are the Big Rip hypothesis and the Big Crunch hypothesis.
The first few stages of the three hypotheses about the end of the universe are all the same; they are all hypotheses derived from the Big Bang Model.
All three hypotheses suggest that the current stage of human life or the current stage of the universe belongs to the second stage of cosmic development, namely the period of star-filled existence.
The timeframe is roughly between 10 to the power of 6 and 10 to the power of 14 years after the Big Bang. During this period, stars were everywhere, hydrogen gas that was originally permeated in nothingness was compressed, and stars had ignited, illuminating the heavens.
This period is what the universe appears to be like as observed by humans: hydrogen-rich stars burn fiercely for billions of years until they run out of nuclear fuel.
The so-called first stage of the universe's creation, as Liu Miyan, refers to the primordial stage, which lasts between 10 to the power of -50 and 5.
This period is known to cosmologists as the first phase, or the primordial phase. During this phase, the universe experienced inflation but also rapid cooling. As the universe cooled, the various forces that were once unified under a single "Super Force" gradually disintegrated, forming the four fundamental forces we are familiar with today.
In the beginning, the universe was not as transparent as the starry sky is today; it was a vast expanse of white or chaos, because at that stage, light was quickly absorbed by the environment after it was created. It wasn't until 380,000 years after the Big Bang that the universe cooled enough for atoms to form without being broken apart by the intense heat, and the Void of the universe truly became a black, transparent space that allowed light to travel freely.
The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation originated from this period.
During this period, primordial hydrogen fused into helium, producing the interstellar hybrid fuel now scattered throughout the universe—the visible matter to humankind, which forms the basis of the stars.
The role of Particle Collider is to guide humanity in unraveling the mysteries of physics that have been hidden in the long river of time, enabling humanity to "go against time" to explore the various secrets hidden in the first stage of the universe's creation.
For a physicist who has dedicated his life to exploring the unknown, witnessing a human-made collider create a world-shaking environment is undoubtedly a longing, especially when it is something he has created himself.
Of course, from another perspective, this also demonstrates physicists' confidence in the New Particle Collider. After all, theoretical calculations show that this still-unfinished New Particle Collider can recreate the cosmic environment before the Strong Interaction Force transition.
As for the next stage, according to Liu Miyan's Big Freeze Hypothesis, the third stage is the degeneration period, where the stars in the universe run out of fuel and exist as dwarf stars, Neutron Star, and black holes. Then comes the fourth stage, the black hole period, and finally, the dark age.
Oh. The Big Freeze Hypothesis is also called the Heat Death Hypothesis.
Given humanity's current understanding of the universe, any speculation about its ultimate fate can only be considered a hypothesis. In fact, not only humanity, but even Level Six Civilization does not know what the final outcome of the universe will be.