As the report meeting ended, speculation that W boson mass was overweight spread directly within the entire Institute of High Energy Physics.
Immediately, those Assistant Researcher, Intern Researcher who did not attend the report meeting, as well as those graduate students and postdoctoral fellows all felt regret.
Why did you secretly reveal such an important discovery in a report meeting?
Wasn't it promised that this report would only talk about data processing and error analysis?
They just felt that the report was about mathematical methods and they couldn't listen to it, so they didn't come. Anyway, they Director Tang only emphasized that the researcher and Associate Researcher must be present.
For a moment, they were about to cry without tears.
However, for those who participated in the report, in addition to marveling at the importance of Xiao Yi's conclusion, they also began to realize how huge the role of this new Error Handling Method proposed by Xiao Yi was.
It can be said that the entire result comes from this Error Handling Method.
As a result, those researchers who were originally complaining about having to attend the report now only felt grateful to them Director Tang.
If they had not participated in this lecture, they would not have been the first batch of scholars to learn about this method.
Of course, the normal report was also recorded on video and has been circulated within the institute.
For example, Tang Yifang also requires everyone to read it again, including those who did not participate in the report meeting.
Xiao Yi and Error Handling Method have almost become a subject that must be mastered in their research institutes, and have almost become a learning goal that must be mastered in their research institutes.
After all, since this new data processing method can discover the overweight problem of W boson, maybe it can also help them discover something equally important on some important topics in the future?
For high-energy physics, [accuracy] is very important.
Ever since, the whole Institute of High Energy Physics has started a "Youth Study". Ahem, it should be the old and middle-aged Youth Study. From senior researchers to graduate students who have just entered the research institute, they all started to study this method.
Of course, this is also true for the CERN research team who came to Institute of High Energy Physics for exchange and study. The original exchange and study has turned into a new method of exchange and study.
Even, because of the importance they attached to this matter, they decided to stay at Institute of High Energy Physics for a few more days.
Of course, they are also waiting for the paper Xiao Yi to be released.
For example, George Parisi is now ready to contact CERN to provide recent relevant data after the Xiao Yi paper is released.
In this way, time passed quickly, a few days later.
"Physical Review Letters" editorial department, in the editor-in-chief's office.
"This paper..."
The editor-in-chief of PRL, Professor Robert Gristow, was looking at a new submission on the computer and felt a little embarrassed.
This is a paper involving high-energy physics, titled "A new error analysis and data processing method and 2000 sets of experimental data show that W boson mass is overweight by about 0.1%."
If you only look at the first half of this question, it doesn't matter. You can't even get to him directly. But if you add the second half, it becomes different.
At first glance, you may think that this result is a bit outrageous. What does it mean that W boson mass is about 0.1% overweight?
That means the mass of about 157 electrons!
This will shake up the foundation of the entire physics!
Standard Model may be broken due to this.
If it were an ordinary author, according to their PRL rules, they would probably just call it back.
But now, the author of this paper made him undecided.
Xiao Yi.
This genius in mathematics created Absolute Electronic Computation some time ago, but it caused quite a stir in Materials science community or the physics community.
Another member of their PRL, Editor-in-Chief Walner, even called him specifically to invite submissions.
In the end, who would have thought that the other party would submit it to JACS because he was too lazy to shorten the content of the paper to less than 8 pages.
Of course, they are not going to hold grudges because of this matter. After all, these big-name authors are like this. Journals only need to be responsible for receiving papers, and then reviewing them to determine their value, while authors have a lot to consider.
But he still didn't know what to say about this paper.
Do you want to accept it?
Next to him, two other PRL associate editors in charge of high energy physics were sitting, namely Professor Greg Landsberg and Professor Daniel Cabete.
Finally he asked, "So, what do you think?"
"Well..." Greg Landsburg pondered for a long time, and finally gave the answer, "It's hard to say."
Gristol rolled his eyes. You've been humming for a long time and thought you'd have something to say, but this is what happened in the end?
Let's talk nonsense here.
Next to him, Kabette said, "Perhaps... are the 2,000 sets of data a little too little?"
"It's indeed a little short." Gristol also felt the same way, "There must be 10,000 groups anyway, right?"
For such important conclusions, 2000 sets of experimental data are not enough.
But Landsberg stopped talking nonsense at this time. "If there are really 10,000 groups, do you think he will submit the manuscript to us instead of to nature or science?"
"Uh..."
Gristol and Kabette looked at each other, and it seemed that this was true.
The other party might have submitted the article to them because their PRL specifications were not as high as those of the two top journals.
After thinking about it for a long time, Gristow finally made a decision. "Okay, 2,000 sets of data are enough to make the physics community doubt it. Let's not ask for so much."
"It's better to receive it as soon as possible and jump in the queue directly for next week's issue."
He lamented. "The world of physics has been quiet for too long. It's time for some excitement."
Just like that, the time came to the second week.
As the new issue of PRL is officially published, when its readers get this issue, they will see a big equation on the cover of this issue, but there is a question mark in it.
[W±=? GeV/c^2]
GeV/c^2 is the official mass unit in the High Energy Physics world. It follows the mass-energy equation, E=mc^2, so m is equal to E/c^2.
This cover is always interesting and has aroused the curiosity of many readers.
The meaning of W± should be W boson. So, hasn't there been a conclusion about the quality of W boson already?
Standard Model calculated 80379MeV/c^2, and most experimental conclusions have proven that it is basically within this range. Even if there are errors, they are all within the range of error fluctuations.
Why is there such a question on the cover now?
For journals like this, the cover generally represents what the editor considers to be the most important paper results in the issue.
So, readers of PRL opened the journal, found the paper on the cover, and read it.
The first thing that surprised them was the title of this paper, W boson mass is 0.1% overweight?
What a joke!
Could it be that Standard Model is wrong?
Well, it is not accurate to say that Standard Model is wrong, but it is a recognized fact in the physics community to say that Standard Model is imperfect or bad.
Today's Standard Model is finally summarized based on all known theories or experiences in the current physics community, but it still lacks explanation for many things. The first is about gravity, which is completely absent in Standard Model. At the same time, Standard Model still cannot explain many things such as Dark Matter and Dark Energy.
Therefore, Standard Model can only be said to be a half-baked theory.
But despite this, Standard Model's prediction of W boson mass was still a recognized thing before.
Now, this paper calls this into question.
Especially the journal in which this paper was published is PRL!
It goes without saying that PRL is authoritative.
For a moment, the hearts of all the readers began to beat.
European Organization for Nuclear Research, headquarter in Geneva.
In a research room, an exclamation came from. "Huge gift! Is this true?"
When you walk inside, you can see an old man with a surprised face.
This old man's name is Frank Wilczek, a Theoretical Physicist and a mathematician.
In 2004, because the asymptotic freedom proposed by him and two other physicists provided great help to the physics community in understanding the strong interaction, they won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004 that year.
It can be said that this is the top boss in the world of physics.
At this time, he was holding the latest issue of PRL journal in his hand, looking at the paper on the cover, and exclaimed.
Next to him, there were several top physicists working at CERN, each holding a copy of PRL at this time, showing surprised expressions.
This paper only has 7 pages of content, but the information given in it shocked them all.
"The mass of W boson... is it really overweight?"
"I'm not sure... the most critical question is, is his data processing method reasonable?"
Regarding this issue, all eyes are on Frank Wilczek.
Although Wilczek's mathematics did not reach the level of Fields Medal like Edward Witten, he was still famous in their physics community. After all, he derived asymptotic freedom on white paper by relying on pen and paper.
Frank Wilczek pondered for a while, and finally said, "Well... I can't find the problem. The method used here is perfect."
"Especially the error matrix, which analyzes various types of errors very thoroughly, and categorizes different errors very clearly."
"Then later, the Singular Value Decomposition method he used was able to decompose the error matrix, thereby dividing the complex error sources into single components, identifying each error, its contribution to the final value, and quantifying their impact."
"We all know that quantification error is a very important thing."
"Finally, there's the error propagation formula he used at the end."
Speaking of this, Wilczek sighed, "He is indeed a mathematical genius who can prove Twin Prime Conjecture. His new error propagation formula perfectly combines the advantages of his previous methods, so that the final result reaches a level of accuracy that is even more unimaginable."
"I believe that if we could use this set of methods to search for Higgs Boson, we might be able to find more signal data of Higgs Boson."
Hearing what Wilczek said, several other professors looked at each other.
If this is said, then there seems to be no need to question the method of this paper.
"However, 2,000 sets of data are a bit too small, isn't it?"
Professor Liam Hodgkinson said.
"It is indeed a bit less." Wilczek said with a smile, "However, this problem is not big. For this result, 2,000 sets of data are enough to explain something. Moreover, these 2,000 sets of data come from China's BEPC. The level of advancement of BEPC is still much worse than that of the LHC, such as the degree of error in directly measured data."
Wilczek said, "The various sensors used by BEPC should not be as good as the LHC, including the resolution of the detector, so if the LHC data can be used for calculations, I think the final results will be more accurate."
"In addition, in terms of data volume, there must be at least 1 million to be more credible."
Everyone present nodded in agreement.
"Then should we invite Xiao Yi over?" someone asked.
"If you can invite me, it would be the best," Wilczek said.
However, at this moment, someone suddenly said, "Well, Professor George Parisi is contacting me, and he now hopes to participate in our discussion online."
"George?" Wilczek was stunned and suddenly said, "By the way, I remember that he went to China some time ago? Is he still there now?"
"Like he's actually still there?"
"Then he must have communicated with Xiao Yi." Wilczek said, "Then quickly get him online. I would like to hear the news from him."
"Okay, Professor Wilczek."
Soon, they opened the big screen in the research room, and Professor George Parisi's face also appeared on it.
"Hello everyone." Parisi greeted with a smile.
"Hello, Professor Parisi." Wilczek and others also said hello.
However, at this moment, they noticed that there were two other faces next to Parisi, one of which was Tang Yifang. The CERN researchers present all knew each other. After all, they had often collaborated and communicated in the past.
The other young face made them hesitate for a moment, and finally recognized it.
"This is...Xiao Yi?"
Parisi laughed and said, "Yes, this is the discoverer of Xiao Yi, W boson's overweight problem. I guess you have already read that paper."
"What was the outcome of your discussion over there?"
"We're staying positive and think it's worth a shot," Wilczek said.
George Parisi nodded and said, "Very good, this is why I am contacting you now. Next, Director Tang will talk to you."
Then, he gave up his position to Tang Yifang.
Tang Yifang expressed a request for LHC collision data.
Regarding this request, Wilczek pondered for a moment and then said, "This is no problem. However, on behalf of CERN, I also hope to join this research. Of course, we are not willing to be absent from such a heavyweight discovery."
Tang Yifang smiled and said, "Of course, this is very reasonable. We, China Institute of High Energy Physics, are also honored to cooperate with CERN."
Wilczek laughed immediately and said, "Okay, then it's decided."
Two major high-energy physics research institutions have reached a cooperation in this regard to jointly study the issue of W boson mass's overweight.
Therefore, CERN sent the LHC collision data from the recent period to China's Institute of High Energy Physics, and then both parties jointly started data processing of the W boson signal.
Target data volume: 1 million!
Such large-scale cooperation matters are a very common thing for High Energy Physics Xi.
Of course, the slightly different thing is that in the past, other research institutions rushed to cooperate with CERN. Basically, CERN was in a dominant position. After all, CERN has the largest number of High Energy Physics manufacturers and the most powerful particle accelerator in the world, and other research institutes can only come up to it.
But this time, it is China Institute of High Energy Physics and CERN who are working together and on an equal footing.
This is naturally because the method they used came from Xiao Yi, and Xiao Yi now represents the Chinese country Institute of High Energy Physics.
The news spread quickly and spread throughout the physics community, causing a shock in an instant.
After the latest issue of PRL came out, it started a discussion all over the world. At that time, many scholars in the field of physics were discussing whether this matter was credible.
Now, CERN has stepped forward, and according to public information, Professor Wilczek is responsible for this cooperation. This undoubtedly shows that CERN attaches great importance to the speculation in this paper, and is now ready to further verify this conclusion.
Ever since, all physicists could not calm down.
On the international version of Zhihu quora, there is a new question in the physics section, which has attracted nearly a thousand answers and discussions in just a few days.
[CERN and China Institute of High Energy Physics plan to cooperate to verify the problem of W boson being overweight. What does this mean? If W boson is really overweight, what does it mean?]
There is a highly praised answer from a researcher working at CERN.
[CERN on-the-job researcher came to answer this question.
First of all, let me explain the cause of this incident. I think everyone should know the cover paper published on PRL at the end of July, right? The genius from the world of mathematics came to his loyal physics, and directly used the statistical results of 2000 sets of data to give a result that shocked the physics world, that is, W boson mass, which is suspected to exceed 0.1% of Standard Model.
what does that mean?
I quote here an interview with Professor Edward Witten.
Q: "Professor Witten, what is the status of Standard Model in the world of physics?"
A: "Standard Model's status, I think for most physicists, it is something that is disgusting but has to be used. It synthesizes all the current experience in physics - you know, physics is an empirical science, that is, it is a science that pays attention to the systematic study and understanding of phenomena and things through observation, experiment and Data Analysis and other methods.
Therefore, even a mathematically rigorous theory is worthless if it cannot be verified by these three methods, just like String Theory.
Of course, it is precisely because Standard Model is such a collection of all experiences. Therefore, it is completely normal if there are some discoveries beyond experience in the future. Moreover, because our human experience is too small compared to the vast universe, I think there are still many such opportunities. "
Q: "Then if such a thing is really discovered, what would it mean for physics?"
A: "It means surprises, it means treasures that have never been excavated. To be honest, I am looking forward to that day. Maybe there will be a discovery that can help verify String Theory?"
The answer of Professor Witten has well explained the significance of W boson superweight to the physics community. It is a surprise and means that there is still physics worthy of our continued exploration.
The current cooperation between CERN and Huaguo Institute of High Energy Physics indeed represents our recognition of the possibility of W boson being overweight. The current goal is to verify this. According to our plan, at least 1 million sets of data will be verified. This is a big project and is expected to take six months to complete.
Everyone can look forward to the final result. If the final facts prove that the mass of W boson is indeed overweight, then the physics community will probably be unable to sit still. This implies a new physical phenomenon, or the need to correct Higgs mechanism, and the self-energy effect also needs to be considered. In short, each one is very important, and if it can be confirmed in the end that there is a new physical phenomenon, it will be an innovation for the entire physics community!
That's all I want to say.
Of course, at the end, I would like to make the most realistic suggestions for ordinary researchers like us. The discovery that W boson is overweight is mainly due to the mathematical method used in the Xiao Yi paper. This is a brand-new set of error processing and Data Analysis methods, which is worthy of everyone's study and research. It is now called Xiao's Error Analysis Theory.
This theory is very helpful for the analysis of any particle accelerator, and is even expected to be used in medical cyclotrons. I don't know the specific application method, but it can be used to accurately diagnose patient diseases, or accurately treat malignant tumors, greatly reducing damage to surrounding healthy tissues, etc.
above.]
This answer has already received tens of thousands of likes and quite a few replies.
[Another day when the physics building was not completed (sad)]
[The gold content of Standard Model is still decreasing!]
[Is your CERN researching time travel? Are you related to John Titor? Are you secretly studying how to make micro Black Hole to destroy the earth?]
[Please, this is CERN, not SERN.]
[Does this mean that it will be a good choice to major in high energy physics in the next few years? If you can find some magical results from this.]
[Come on, kid, maybe you will find a new particle named after you!]
[I will study the paper by Xiao Yi now!]
In the lively discussion, people generally expressed their eager expectations for this event.
But the only problem is probably that we still need to wait six months.
However, for the vast majority of High Energy Physics readers, just six months is not a big deal. Now, they are more concerned about the Xiao Yi paper.
Xiao's Error Analysis Theory has become the target of study by physicists during this period.
After all, now, whether it is CERN, other organizations that own particle accelerators, or medical companies that develop medical cyclotrons, they all offer high salaries to hire Xiao's Error Analysis Theory experts.
Glory and wealth are here to try!
And time, also in the heat of the physics community, slowly passed.