Chapter Summaries

Academician Pan prepared the third round of experiments to test whether the Isolated Point Particle underwent the Weak Interaction and address Suzuki Atsuto’s question. At the Liner Dark Matter Laboratory, Gabriel Veneziano grasped how Huaxia’s plan corrected the W boson’s energy-level error, then asked Ange Pedro to remember his favorite movie.

• Academician Pan announced that all 42 remaining institutions had repeated the basic procedures and asked them to confirm their equipment was ready.
• Ange Pedro told Nelson to start cooling the purified water-based liquid, while Gabriel Veneziano said he could not find a way to resolve the W boson’s energy-level precision error.
• Academician Pan revealed that Huaxia’s team had devised its experimental plan in nearly three hours and would correct the error using the J/psi particle and an auxiliary instrument.
• Gabriel Veneziano worked through the announced calculations, then asked Ange Pedro what his favorite movie was.
• Ange Pedro answered that Gabriel Veneziano’s favorite movie was Titanic.

Gabriel Veneziano and Ange Pedro decided the Liner Laboratory should race to produce the final verification results for dark matter, even as they believed the Chinese Academy of Sciences was close to proving its discovery. Gabriel opened the F4 storage hall’s manual valve, began filling it with liquid xenon, and played “My Heart Will Go On” as he faced the possible end of the laboratory’s work.

• Gabriel Veneziano recalled Titanic bandleader Wallace Hartley and asked Ange Pedro to join him in making the Liner Laboratory the first to produce final verification results; Pedro agreed.
• Nelson took Gabriel to the F4 storage hall, where Gabriel inspected the tank and asked him to open its manual valve.
• Gabriel and Nelson opened the valve, and liquid xenon began filling the tank while Gabriel reflected on the laboratory’s likely fate.
• Gabriel removed his suit and played “My Heart Will Go On” on his harmonica as the liquid xenon rose; Nelson stayed beside him.
• Gabriel asked Nelson about his down jacket, learned it was from the Huaxia brand Bosideng, and complained that Huaxia products were everywhere.

Gabriel Veneziano witnessed the Liner Dark Matter Laboratory detect standard dark matter particles, confirming that Huaxia’s team had made the breakthrough. He struggled with the bitter realization that his life’s work had led to the right path but someone else had reached the discovery first, while the conference’s final indicator lights turned green and the audience applauded.

• Gabriel Veneziano watched the experiment produce a red light ring at least two meters wide, indicating the discovery of standard dark matter particles.
• Gabriel Veneziano folded experimental data into a paper boat, left his harmonica behind, and departed the F4 Lab with Nelson.
• Ange Pedro told Gabriel Veneziano that the Huaxia team had discovered standard dark matter particles and that their own laboratory’s light was at the front.
• Gabriel Veneziano reflected on the validation of his decades of research and the pain of someone else making the discovery before his death.
• Institutions around the world approved the results, the final indicator light turned green, and Xu Yun, Lu Chaoyang, Christine, and others stood to applaud.
• Atsuto Suzuki clapped reluctantly, while Edward Witten was also among the few people not smiling.

At a press conference, Academician Pan and the audience celebrated Huaxia’s discovery of dark matter, which he presented as a breakthrough for Chinese physics and its standing in the world. After foreign laboratory representatives reluctantly acknowledged the result, an American attendee interrupted Pan’s closing remarks.

• The narrator recounted the contributions of Wu Youxun and Zhao Zhongyao, corrected a false story about Zhao transporting radium, and described Yan Yuchang’s real role and sacrifice.
• Zhou Shaoping, Zhao Zhengguo, and other physicists celebrated the dark matter discovery as a historic breakthrough that would raise Huaxia’s influence in physics and inspire public interest in research.
• Academician Pan asked Milsap Andre Octave whether Vison Laboratory objected, and Milsap confirmed that the Chinese Academy of Sciences had discovered real dark matter.
• Lena of the Kentucky-Bohr Laboratory congratulated the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Academician Pan collected reluctant acknowledgments from the other representatives.
• As Academician Pan began his closing remarks, a man with an American voice interrupted to ask if he could speak.

Edward Witten interrupted Academician Pan to ask about the newly named Pangu particle and point out an unexplained mismatch in two measured values. He suggested the discrepancy might indicate another undiscovered particle orbiting Pangu.

• Edward Witten stood and asked Academician Pan whether the dark matter particle's official name was Isolated Point Particle.
• Academician Pan revealed that the Academy of Sciences had named the particle Pangu.
• Witten confirmed the reported flux value and exponential map generator, then said their relationship appeared strange despite the measurements being verified.
• Witten compared the mismatch to Uranus's orbital deviations and the discovery of Neptune and Pluto.
• Witten concluded that an undiscovered Pluto might be orbiting the Pangu particle.

Witten questioned the Pangu particle’s probability orbit and asked to meet the doctor who derived it, prompting the Academy of Sciences to bring Xu Yun into the discussion. The chapter ended with Witten asking Xu Yun how he had derived the equation.

• Witten argued that the Pangu particle’s unusually large flux value and small exponential-map generator might indicate something unexpected in its probability orbit.
• Academician Pan hesitated over whether to let Witten continue, but Hou Xingyuan told him to hear Witten out.
• Witten asked the Academy of Sciences to release the probability-orbit formula and let him speak with its creator.
• Hou Xingyuan instructed Academician Pan to display the formula and hand Xu Yun a microphone.
• Academician Pan called Xu Yun to stand, and Xu Yun nervously rose as the audience and cameras turned toward him.
• Witten asked Xu Yun how he had derived the equation.

Xu Yun explained how he found the probability orbit associated with the Pangu particle, and Witten used the formulas and data to identify abnormal values that suggested an unknown particle. Witten offered to test his conjecture and asked Xu Yun to assist him.

• Xu Yun told Witten that he had found an unusual parity orbit while studying Sigma Hyperon decay data, then adapted the orbit formula using the Lambda Hyperon's decay parameters and obtained F = 1.
• Witten summarized Xu Yun's method, questioned him about the diphoton spin and expected background, and became more confident in his conjecture after Xu Yun answered.
• The experts examined Xu Yun's formulas, and Gerard 't Hooft and Yang Lao independently found that the flux value was too high while the exponential-map generator was too low.
• Academician Pan asked Witten how he could prove that an unknown particle existed near the Pangu particle, and Witten requested paper, a pen, and a computer for probability-matrix calculations.
• Witten asked Xu Yun to help him test the conjecture because Xu Yun had discovered the Pangu particle's orbit.

Witten began a high-stakes discussion about proving the existence of the Pluto particle, with Xu Yun assisting him as the room’s leading physicists gathered. The four-hour session started with Witten proposing flux values as a starting point, and Nima Arkani-Hamed raised a possible tree-level diagram approach.

• Academician Pan approved Witten’s request for Xu Yun to assist, and Xu Yun joined the group at the front beside Zhou Shaoping.
• Witten thanked Academician Pan after the academy granted the discussion four hours and canceled its scheduled speeches and banquet.
• Hou Xingyuan and Wang Qingchen discovered that the livestream audience had climbed past 34 million because viewers were curious about the unscripted discussion among famous physicists.
• Witten argued that flux values offered a more useful physical starting point than generators of the exponential map.
• Nima Arkani-Hamed suggested constructing a tree-level diagram for the partner particles within the SUSY framework.

Witten and the physicists used a susy framework to search for evidence of a companion boson to the Pangu particle, while Xu Yun watched their calculations. After Nima identified an anomalous 300 GeV baseline, Xu Yun spotted something in the data and stopped Witten just as he was about to continue.

• Witten asked Xu Yun to mark the anomalous interval in the Aurora System’s Jet Diagram, and the group concluded that any companion particle would have to be bosonic.
• Witten, Zhou Shaoping, Gerard 't Hooft, and Gross began building a susy framework around the Pangu particle’s anomalous magnetic moment.
• Zhang Han explained to Chen Shanshan how anomalous magnetic moment calculations could help test for new particles, and the group’s calculations then slowed as they tried different approaches.
• Xudong Lao Xian joked that Nima had not contributed to the calculations, and Nima immediately announced that he had found an anomalous 300 GeV baseline more than two standard deviations above the expected value.
• Xudong Lao Xian challenged Xu Yun’s apparent lack of involvement and promised to eat an axe if Xu Yun helped Witten; Xu Yun then called for Witten to wait.

Xu Yun identified a fatal flaw in the particle calculations caused by distorted isolated basis vectors, and Higgs devised a corrected configuration. With the final deadline approaching, Witten asked the group to calculate the Pluto particle’s Fermi surface, and Zhou Shaoping called on Xu Yun to help.

• Xu Yun pointed out flaws in the wave-packet and spinor calculations and explained how rare particles could distort the isolated basis vectors.
• Witten and the others checked the calculations, confirmed Xu Yun was right, and Witten thanked him for catching the fatal mistake.
• Witten asked Higgs to repair the framework, and Higgs produced a new configuration for the special particles.
• Zhou Shaoping noted that calculating the Pluto particle’s Fermi surface would be difficult, and Witten asked everyone to work on it before the deadline.
• With Yang Lao too exhausted to participate, Zhou Shaoping called to Xu Yun, who activated his Mind Card.

Xu Yun used Dirichlet’s Mind Card while helping Zhou Shaoping calculate parameters for the possible particle Fermi surface at a live press conference. Zhou Shaoping gave Xu Yun the chance to demonstrate his ability, and Xu Yun recognized the elder’s willingness to take criticism so younger scientists could advance.

• Xu Yun activated Dirichlet’s Mind Card before joining Zhou Shaoping at the press conference.
• Xu Yun and Zhou Shaoping began calculating coupling parameters for the possible particle Fermi surface.
• Xu Yun suggested using the rotation operator around the y-axis and explained how to connect the calculation to high-energy hadron collisions.
• Xu Yun realized Zhou Shaoping had pretended to be confused so Xu Yun could shine before the audience, despite the criticism Zhou Shaoping might face.
• Xu Yun reflected on Pangu as a spirit embodied by elders who cleared the way for the next generation.

Xu Yun and Zhou Shaoping worked on quantizing the fictional Pluto particle’s field, but their calculations stalled until Yang Lao suggested treating the field as a wave function at a specific wave number. Xu Yun and Zhou Shaoping independently reached the same general solution, leaving the difficult derivation moving forward.

• Xu Yun began calculating the rotation operator’s matrix elements while Zhou Shaoping worked on spin operators, and other physicists formed teams to check the calculations.
• Viewers and online commentators followed Xu Yun and Zhou Shaoping’s progress, with researchers praising Xu Yun’s skill after he used a specific wave number to address an earlier problem.
• Xu Yun and Zhou Shaoping became stuck on quantizing the particle’s canonical momentum density and field, rejecting several approaches, including finite-angle vector rotation.
• Yang Lao, having recovered some strength after resting, advised Xu Yun to choose a specific wave number and treat the field as a wave function.
• Xu Yun and Zhou Shaoping worked through Yang Lao’s suggestion independently and produced the same general solution.

Xu Yun and Zhou Shaoping used Yang Lao’s general solution to calculate the operators needed to locate the hypothetical Pluto particle, while Xu Yun took on more work to spare the elderly researchers. His derivation revealed a determinant-related explanation for the excessive flux, but it ended with him suspecting a more alarming possibility.

• Xu Yun and Zhou Shaoping derived the particle’s number operator and identified its modulus-squared operator, or angular momentum, as the next quantity to calculate.
• Zhou Shaoping let Xu Yun handle the spherical-coordinate derivatives and radial and angular decomposition, breaking a forty-year habit rooted in the disaster that injured his former student Huang Wuxiang.
• Xu Yun used representations of the Poincare group to derive the angular-momentum eigenstates and the Pluto particle’s spinor matrix factor.
• Xu Yun found that the transformation determinant equaled one and concluded that changed external constraints explained the excessive flux value.
• Xu Yun suddenly stopped calculating after realizing the relativistic spinor constraints might point to something terrifying.

Xu Yun and Zhou Shaoping completed their Pluto particle calculations first, and Witten began verifying the results from all the teams. The verification found that Zhou Shaoping’s team had the lone set of values that disagreed, leaving their result in doubt.

• Xu Yun used the second-stage formula to derive the Pluto particle’s squared-modulus operator and passed the result to Zhou Shaoping.
• Zhou Shaoping completed the Fermi surface calculations and sent his team’s results to Witten’s backend, making them the first team to finish.
• Gerard 't Hooft, Polyakov, Anton Zeilinger, Nima Arkani-Hamed, David Gross, Atsuto Suzuki, and Witten submitted their calculations afterward.
• Academician Pan announced that Witten would compare the submitted results before the final particle detection.
• Witten found that seven of the eight data sets agreed, while Zhou Shaoping’s team had the anomalous result.

Witten identified the anomalous data as coming from Zhou Shaoping and Xu Yun’s group, and Zhou discovered their different rotation-operator method had produced the discrepancy. As Suzuki mocked the Chinese Academy of Sciences and questioned Xu Yun, Xu admitted he had deliberately retained some operators, leaving Suzuki stunned.

• Witten said Zhou Shaoping and Xu Yun’s group had produced data that differed sharply from the other groups’ results.
• Zhou Shaoping and the others examined the terminal, where they found that some of the Academy group’s values differed by an order of magnitude.
• After Anton Zeilinger asked about their method, Zhou Shaoping realized their use of rotation-operator matrix elements around the y-axis explained the anomalous data.
• Zhou Shaoping worried that public backlash would target Xu Yun and wondered how he could protect him.
• Atsuto Suzuki mocked Zhou Shaoping and questioned Xu Yun about the results.
• Xu Yun said he had deliberately kept some operators in the non-rich terms, leaving Suzuki bewildered.

Xu Yun argued that the other teams’ calculations contained a flaw in their treatment of finite-angle vector rotations. Gerard 't Hooft confirmed that Xu Yun’s approach produced a spin-1/2 vector field, leaving the experts to consider whether the Pluto particle might still fit the competing framework physically.

• Atsuto Suzuki accused Xu Yun of deliberately choosing an inferior calculation method, while Yang Lao urged Zhou Shaoping to let Xu Yun explain.
• Xu Yun said pseudovector values failed to commute under addition under specific conditions, producing a spin-1/2 massive vector field and a Lagrangian with an extra minus sign.
• Anton Zeilinger checked the data, found the extra minus sign, and asked Gerard 't Hooft to calculate the field’s spin.
• Gerard 't Hooft confirmed Xu Yun was right, and the room fell silent as the scholars realized the other eight teams’ frameworks might not match the Pluto particle.
• Atsuto Suzuki argued that the particle might still follow a finite-angle vector rotation basis physically, then proposed comparing the frameworks’ predicted energy levels to determine which could capture it.

Atsuto Suzuki proposed calculating the particle’s energy level to test the competing predictions, and the assembled physicists agreed. Aurora System returned an ordinary mass for the other groups’ data but an astonishing 923.8 GeV for the Academy of Sciences team’s data, leaving Carlo Rubbia disturbed by an unpleasant memory.

• Atsuto Suzuki suggested identifying the particle by calculating its energy level, and Nima and the other prominent physicists supported the proposal.
• Witten entered the prepared Fermi surface data into Aurora System while Higgs and the others checked the inputs.
• Aurora System calculated a mass of 11.4514 GeV from the data supplied by the eight groups other than the Academy of Sciences team.
• Aurora System calculated a mass of 923.8 GeV from the Academy of Sciences team’s data, prompting Atsuto Suzuki to laugh and Nima to relax.
• Carlo Rubbia saw the result and felt the memory of an unpleasant incident stir.

Carlo Rubbia was summoned by Hou Xingyuan while scholars debated how to verify the Academy’s claimed particle masses, and Lu Chaoyang hinted that one model in the 700–1,000 GeV range had survived earlier searches. As Atsuto Suzuki and Academician Pan argued over whether to test the 923.8 GeV result, Witten proposed checking the 11.4514 GeV particle first, but an electronic voice then invoked the history of nuclear bombs to warn that breakthroughs could happen twice.

• Carlo Rubbia followed Gao Hongwen away from the venue after learning that Hou Xingyuan wanted to see him.
• Christine told Lu Chaoyang that the Academy faced an almost impossible problem, and Lu said one theoretical model in the 700–1,000 GeV range had survived the ATLAS results.
• Atsuto Suzuki argued that the Academy should verify the 11.4514 GeV particle instead of attempting an expensive 923.8 GeV experiment.
• Academician Pan insisted that the Academy deserved a chance to verify the higher-energy result, while Witten proposed testing the lower-mass particle first and deciding what to do next based on the results.
• An electronic voice recounted the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and warned that nuclear bombs could go off twice.

Xu Yun secretly warned Academician Pan that the 11.4514 GeV particle was likely a false result, and Pan accepted Witten’s proposal to test the particles in sequence. Seven international institutions prepared to run experiments, leaving the teams ready to search for signals and assess the disputed particle.

• Xu Yun played a video of Emperor Hirohito’s surrender broadcast, then apologized to Atsuto Suzuki after Academician Pan intervened.
• Xu Yun told Academician Pan that the 11.4514 GeV particle probably did not exist and explained that its SU3 value contradicted the expected particle properties.
• Hou Xingyuan advised Academician Pan to accept Witten’s proposal, and Pan agreed to coordinate the signal and video connections.
• Atsuto Suzuki, Higgs, t'Hooft, and other representatives selected seven institutions to conduct particle tests using lead-ion beams.
• The seven institutions reported that their equipment was ready, and Academician Pan reviewed their experimental parameters, including J-PARC’s increased bunch count.

Seven institutions prepared to verify the reported 11.4514 GeV particle, while KEK began a carefully calibrated lead-ion collision experiment at J-PARC. After the collisions produced over 1.28 million events, Koichiro Nishikawa announced that the data said the particle did not exist and the information had been fake.

• Academician Pan approved the institutions’ data and told Little Zhou to begin the handoff, though J-PARC’s unusually high figures stood out.
• Makoto Kobayashi arrived at J-PARC’s control room and supervised KEK’s preparations with Koichiro Nishikawa.
• Makoto Kobayashi waited for Fermi Lab to power up before allowing KEK to start its collision experiment.
• KEK collided lead-ion beams using a 7.4-nanosecond delay and compiled more than 1.28 million events.
• Koichiro Nishikawa cried out that the data showed the reported particle did not exist and the information was fake.