[National Science and Technology Awards Conference is held! These three projects won the first prize of the National Natural Science Award! Click to view details →]
[Awarded by State Supreme Science and Technology Award, let's see which two scientists won this honor?]
[Goldbach Conjecture won the first prize of State Natural Science Award, but what about Twin Prime Conjecture?]
[Shocked! He actually did such a thing on National Science and Technology Awards Conference...]
After National Science and Technology Awards Conference ended, major news media also released relevant news, and the discussion on the Internet was not low at all.
Above Weibo, #National Science and Technology Awards Conference# is on the hot search list. In addition, #Goldbach Conjecture# is also on the hot search list alone.
As for the other two first prizes, they are gone, probably because Xiao Yi itself has a lot of traffic.
Of course, the more important thing is that netizens have questions about why Twin Prime Conjecture did not win the award.
[The status of Twin Prime Conjecture in the mathematical world should not be much different from that of Goldbach Conjecture? Isn't there another first prize?]
[Come on, Natural Science Award, what kind of award is that? Being able to award three of them this year is considered history.]
[There is a reason for choosing Brother Guess. After all, Brother Guess's report will be given by our Great Hall of the People, and it has such a big influence in the country. I can only say that Scholar Xiao is awesome. He won the first prize in natural science at the age of eighteen]
[And it was the first prize in mathematics. The last time I won the first prize in mathematics was in 1997. Strictly speaking, that project was not pure mathematics, but computational mathematics.]
[The first prize in pure mathematics is so rare. It seems that the earliest one was won by Mr. Chen Jingrun's 1+2 theorem, right? Now it has changed from 1+2 to 1+1, which is the boomerang of history.]
[I feel that the first prize in the future will often be dominated by Scholar Xiao, maybe next year it will be Twin Prime Conjecture.]
[There will be no awards next year. There is news that it will be changed to once every three years in the future. The next one will probably wait until November 2024.]
[I'll go, wait so long?]
[The selection in the future will be more difficult. It can be regarded as a reform of our domestic awards by the country. Only truly high-level projects can pass. I guess this time I was able to win the award in the same year because the next time will be three years later.]
[It's good. With so many awards now, it's hard to guarantee that there won't be a few parallel imports...]
Various discussions on the Internet were in full swing, but no one paid attention to Xiao Yi who had just received the award and returned Basic Science Park.
For him, the current priority is to study the quality gap issue.
After returning to the dormitory, the thought of which angle to solve the problem came to Xiao Yi's mind again.
But this time, his eyes turned to the direction of TQFT.
TQFT, Topological Quantum Field Theory, which emphasizes the topological properties of Quantum Field Theory rather than its metric properties, is also a very powerful physics tool.
During the research, Xiao Yi began to think about the topological invariants of Yang-Mills theory and its behavior on different topological spaces.
"According to the Chern-Simons theory, the modulus space Σ of the Yang-Mills equation on the compact Riemann surface can be regarded as the configuration space Σ×[0,1] of the Chern-Simons theory on the cylinder. In this case, the modulus space will be geometrically quantized... geometrically quantized?"
Finally, on a cold winter night, in a warm dormitory with the heater turned on, Xiao Yi's boiling brain suddenly calmed down at this moment.
However, beneath the tranquil surface, there is a more majestic turmoil hidden.
"Doesn't this mean that after introducing the Chern number, the mass gap problem of Yang-Mills theory can be transformed into an existence problem about topological invariants?"
There seemed to be a light of wisdom shining in his eyes.
The pen tip couldn't stop on the draft paper.
And time passed again.
In this way, four months passed quietly.
The time has entered the end of February 2022.
The Spring Festival has ended, and the Lantern Festival has ended two weeks ago. Students have returned to their schools to start classes, and the screws of society have also returned to their posts and begun to contribute to the operation of the entire world.
And on this day, February 25, the new issue of "Science" magazine was announced. On the cover, a huge W crushed the disk representing the major elementary particles in Standard Model.
At the bottom, there are two lines of letters explaining the meaning of this cover.
[overweight! W boson mass measurement value is higher than expected!]
[From the cover of the April 2, 2022 issue of Science magazine, W boson mass overweight is also a real occurrence in the world of physics. (I adjusted the time slightly, it's a bit crooked)]
With the announcement of this issue, it immediately detonated the entire physics community.
There is no doubt that what this cover represents is that the cooperation between China Institute of High Energy Physics and CERN has been completed, and their final result is the same as Xiao Yi originally predicted!
W boson, really overweight!
For a time, all physicists around the world were excited by this news.
On major forums, the voices of discussion became fierce again.
[Oh my God! This time it's real! CERN and China Institute of High Energy Physics calculated exactly 1 million sets of signal data about W boson! This time there is definitely credibility!]
[I have read the paper, and according to the results, the mass of W boson is 40844±6MeV. Damn it, the previous paper on Xiao Yi, the data volume of 2000 sets was just over 5 standard deviations. Now it is 1 million sets of data, which is more than 10 standard deviations. There must be some problem here, right?]
[Incredible, our research team is already preparing to go to CERN. It is estimated that CERN will be busy in the next period of time.]
[Can anyone tell me what is the reason for being overweight?! Damn it, can I really encounter major events in the physics world in my lifetime?]
[Isn't Higgs Boson that year a big enough event?]
[When I discovered Higgs Boson, I was still in high school and had no idea what high-energy physics was.]
[Hey, maybe it's caused by supersymmetric particles?]
[We can only look forward to the final conclusion.]
Amid various discussions, an extremely important meeting was being held at CERN, and the meeting was discussing exactly this conclusion.
"... We mainly used Xiao's Error Analysis Theory to process 1 million sets of W boson signal data and came to this final conclusion. Now we have sufficient reasons to believe that the actual quality of W boson exceeds the prediction of Standard Model."
In the large conference room, Frank Professor Wilczek, the Nobel Prize winner and the main person in charge of this W boson mass verification project, is making a report.
"I think this is enough to be regarded as one of the most important discoveries in the field of particles since the discovery of the Higgs boson. Therefore, it is necessary for CERN to continue to study W boson mass superheavy as a top priority. Maybe this will allow us to discover another theory of relativity?"
"No one can tell."
After Professor Wilczek finished speaking, he also won applause from many physicists present.
At this time, CERN Director General Fabiola Gianotti asked, "Professor Wilczek, can you tell us specifically whether the statistical method you are using is really effective? Is it really credible? I have always been curious about why this statistical method can give us such a huge difference in the results we obtained from previous statistical methods."
Hearing this question, Wilczek smiled, "Professor Gianotti, we have discussed your question many times over the past many months. We have already answered why this new statistical method shows such a difference. The primary problem lies in its more refined handling of errors."
"Accuracy is very critical, and the mathematical methods used here are also advanced enough."
"In addition, one thing I must say is that the difference between the results of the previous statistical methods and the current statistical methods is actually not huge."
"The difference between the two results is only 0.1%. But when observed at a microscopic scale, the difference becomes huge. It is like 0.1% of W boson, which is almost equal to the mass of 157 electrons."
"But high-energy physics is like this. In other physics, any difference may be regarded as an error, but in our high-energy physics, we have a lot to consider."
"It's like the 5σ principle, which was proposed by Institute of High Energy Physics."
"On this point, I believe Professor Edward Witten will also agree."
Everyone looked at an old man sitting in a certain seat in the conference room, Professor Edward Witten, who was sitting in this seat.
Hearing Wilczek suddenly cue him, Witten smiled, and then said, "Yes, I agree with Frank."
There was a burst of applause in the conference room.
Obviously, there are still quite a few researchers who agree that the W boson mass overweight problem will be CERN's main goal in the next period of time.
Whether it is Wilczek or Witten, both of them are considered to be the highest representatives of physics and mathematics ability among everyone present, and their opinions are very important.
Seeing this, Director General Fabiola Gianotti said nothing more, nodded and said, "In that case, the issue of [whether to make the W boson mass verification subject the next primary scientific goal of CERN] is passed."
Then, she turned to look at the other side of the conference room and said, "Professor Tang, are you willing to continue to participate in the research on this topic?"
On the other side, sitting are Tang Yifang and other researchers from China Institute of High Energy Physics. As partners on this topic, they were also invited by CERN to come here.
Tang Yifang stood up, nodded with a smile, and said, "On behalf of China Institute of High Energy Physics, I am willing to join in the cooperation."
Generally speaking, such projects will be taken over by CERN alone. Now that we can cooperate, it is naturally a good thing for Institute of High Energy Physics.
"Okay." Fabiola Gianotti nodded, and then said, "Then move on to the next topic..."
Tang Yifang also sat down.
However, at this moment, the phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated.
He frowned, who would call him at this time?
When he took it out and looked at it, he was stunned. The person calling was actually Xiao Yi?
Xiao Yi did not come here with them, but remained in the country.
But why did he make this call?
He answered the phone, covered the phone and whispered, "Xiao Yi, what's wrong? I'm in a meeting now, as I told you before."
Then the voice of Xiao Yi came from the other end of the phone. "Has CERN decided to continue to verify W boson mass?"
"Yes." Tang Yifang asked, "Is there any problem with this?"
Then, Xiao Yi said, "Well... please help me convey my suggestion. I think it may not make much sense to continue studying W boson mass. Judging from the current performance of the LHC, it should be impossible to find the real reason for W boson's overweight."
Tang Yifang was stunned immediately. Unintentionally, his tone even raised a little. "What?"
As it happened, Director General Giannotti had just announced the next topic and was waiting for everyone to express their opinions. The venue was very quiet, and his voice seemed particularly abrupt.
Gianotti turned around and looked over and asked, "Professor Tang, do you have any problems here?"
Tang Yifang pointed to his cell phone with a slight embarrassment, and then said a few words into the microphone. Just as everyone was wondering if he was so bold in making phone calls during a meeting, Tang Yifang stood up and said slightly apologetically, "I'm sorry to disturb everyone. That was the call from Xiao Yi. He had a suggestion that he wanted me to convey to you."
Now everyone was stunned, Xiao Yi?
So everyone who was still complaining no longer blamed Tang Yifang for interrupting.
Xiao Yi, as the first person to discover the overweight problem of W boson mass, has never been to CERN, but his status in their hearts is already extraordinary.
What advice would he have?
"Please tell me." Director General Fabiola Gianotti also nodded and said.
"Well..." Then, Tang Yifang conveyed Xiao Yi's suggestion.
Everyone present was stunned.
What?
Xiao Yi actually suggested that they not put too much energy into this issue for the time being?
Good guy, he was the first to discover this problem, and it has now attracted unprecedented attention in the physics community. But he came up again and said he wanted to apply the brakes?
Everyone felt incomprehensible.
Frank Professor Wilczek narrowed his eyes at this time and said, "Professor Tang, Xiao Yi said that with the current collision energy of the LHC, the cause of the anomaly in W boson cannot be discovered?"
"Yes." Tang Yifang nodded.
"Did he discover something?"
Tang Yifang took out his mobile phone again and had a conversation with Xiao Yi on the other end of the phone. Finally, he said, "Xiao Yi said that if he can participate in the video now, he can briefly explain the reasons to everyone. If it is inconvenient, it may take several months before he will give a complete explanation."
Suddenly, there were waves of discussion in the conference room.
Fabiola Gianotti pondered for a moment, and finally said, "I agree with this matter as the Director-General. If any researchers present have any objections, you can raise your hands."
Off the court, all the participants shook their heads, and no one raised their hands.
"Then, please tell Professor Tang to tell Xiao Yi that we agree with him to explain the reasons to us through video."
"Okay."
Tang Yifang nodded.
After a quick coordination, Xiao Yi successfully connected to their meeting site.
The face of Xiao Yi appeared on the multimedia screen in the conference room, and the environment behind him could be seen to be in a dormitory.
He waved towards the camera and asked, "Can you hear me?"
Fabiola Gianotti nodded towards him and said, "Xiao Yi, hello, I am Fabiola Gianotti, Director General of CERN. We can all hear it here. Next, please explain to us why you made that suggestion."
"That's good." Xiao Yi nodded with a smile, and then said, "Hello, Director General Gianotti, and CERN researchers."
"First of all, I would like to apologize for disturbing your meeting."
"Regarding that suggestion, I need to use mathematical physics methods to explain it next."
"First of all, we all know that the mass of W boson is given by Higgs mechanism through spontaneous symmetry breaking."
"Then, we first introduce the Higgs field based on the SU(2)L×U(1)Y gauge symmetry."
Xiao Yi turned around and started the demonstration on a small blackboard behind him - this small blackboard he asked the institute for some time ago.
"The Higgs field is a (2)SU(2) complex scalar doublet = (+, 0), where:"
[+=1/√2(1+i2), 0=1/√2(3+i4).]
"Then we choose the potential energy of the Higgs field in the following form."
[V()=μ^2^+λ()^2
Among them, μ^2 and λ are greater than 0.]
"Afterwards, we minimize the potential energy V(), and the Higgs field obtains a non-zero vacuum expectation value, causing the symmetry to be broken..."
Xiao Yi began to deduce slowly, gradually showing how W boson obtained mass through Higgs mechanism.
"Finally, we calculated the kinetic energy term of the Higgs field through the action of covariant derivatives and replaced the VEV of the Higgs field, and finally generated the mass term, thus determining the mass of W boson."
"Up to this point, the derivation process is exactly the same as that of our physics community in the past, and there seems to be no difference. But why did the mass of W boson eventually have problems? Please see, if I once again introduce a new vector field in the step of breaking the symmetry of Higgs mechanism."
"As for this vector field, it comes from Topological Quantum Field Theory from Yang-Mills equations."
"Now, we construct an anti-self-dual Yang-Mills field on the four-dimensional sphere S^4, which satisfies the following conditions."
[F=*F]
"Where F is the curvature form of the Yang-Mills field, * is Hodge dual operator."
"As we all know, in the four-dimensional case, it can be connected to the four-dimensional Yang-Mills theory through the introduction of boundary conditions and topological invariants, and similarly, we can also substitute it into the symmetry breaking process of Higgs mechanism..."
Hearing Xiao Yi's words, Frank Wilczek and Edward Witten in the conference room narrowed their eyes.
George Parisi was also present, and he looked surprised. "This is... a new kind of field!?"
As soon as his words came out, the atmosphere in the conference room was immediately ignited.
Originally, a considerable number of people were confused when faced with the process of Xiao Yi. The mathematical logic was too complex, and the methods used exceeded the imagination of most people, so they could not understand the meaning of these derivation processes.
However, this sentence of George Parisi gives a very precise explanation of these derivation of Xiao Yi——
Could the "culprit" that caused W boson's overweight come from a "field" that has never been discovered by the physics community in the past?!
Next, Xiao Yi coincidentally seemed to respond to this, "... with the introduction of this anti-self-dual field and at the same time reconciling the spontaneous symmetry breaking of Higgs mechanism, we can find that it not only becomes harmonious, but also has an incomparable mathematical beauty."
"And, with this new process, we can easily calculate the new mass of W boson, which is 80429 MeV!"
In the conference room, everyone's eyes showed disbelief and shock.
In this case, it's right!
This almost successfully explains why W boson is overweight!
And what does a new field represent?
Maybe it's another elementary particle, maybe it's a disruptive discovery like a fundamental force that has never been discovered, etc. Of course, maybe it's the supersymmetric particle that the physics community has been pursuing.
The conference room was eerily quiet, and almost everyone had their mouths hanging open, feeling extremely unbelievable about this result.
Even Tang Yifang had no idea that Xiao Yi's simple suggestion would lead to such an unbelievable discovery for them.
In the conference room, only the voice of Xiao Yi was left.
"... then in the end, we can summarize the following characteristics of this field: it interacts strongly with W boson in an extremely high energy state, exhibits an extremely weak interaction force in a regular energy state, and finally, one more thing, it may be a unified medium for strong interaction and weak interaction."
Xiao Yi smiled shyly, "About this field, before I can fully understand what it is, I will temporarily name it X field, or Xiao field."
"If it is finally proven to be a supersymmetric particle, then the name X field will naturally be eliminated."
"Finally, back to the beginning, the reason why I suggest that you don't continue to spend time and energy studying the mass issue of W boson is precisely because it is as difficult as using a particle accelerator to determine whether it really exists, just like a supersymmetric particle. The only good thing is that we can indirectly determine its existence through the mass of W boson."
"Therefore, the resources of the particle accelerator can be used to study other topics, which may be more valuable."
"Well, I've finished speaking. Do you have any questions?"