The turmoil over the Grand Unified Theory of Algebra and Geometry has not yet completely subsided, and the completion ceremony of the Lunar Hadron Collider and related meetings are about to begin.

A series of blockbuster news has not been settled, wave after wave, washing people's eyes, shocking people's brains, and making people overwhelmed.

It's good if you're outside of academia, but neither the Unification Theory nor the collider is more shocking and sought after than a conference about the Phantom system, or even a blog post updated by a beta tester.

But if you are in the academic circle, you can clearly feel this feeling of being pushed forward by a huge force majeure.

It's as if what they were discussing yesterday is no longer a problem today, and then they have to face and adapt to new issues.

Countless PhDs have been postponed, partly by force, and partly by initiative, after all, after the completion of the Grand Unified Theory, especially in the area of algebraic geometry, there are too many things that need to be relearned.

Many people even suffer from anxiety disorders as a result, and rely on medication to soothe tired and fragile nerves.

At the same time, as the birthplace of the Great Unification Theory and the first university to offer this course, the opportunity to visit Jinling University can be said to be a "certificate" for a while.

From the very beginning, you can apply as long as you apply, and the last people who sign up have lined up in a long line, and even those who have already signed up have to "add money", which took less than half a month.

On the physical side, the situation is more or less similar.

The completion of the Lunar Hadron Collider may not have had a great impact on the physics department of Jinling University, but the impact on the IMCRC is huge.

Just a year ago, or even half a year ago, it was very difficult to get the opportunity to visit CERN or even volunteer.

And now this scene seems to have been replicated on the pearl of the western Pacific.

Every day, IMCRC receives tens of thousands of applications from all over the world, some of them hope to come here to apply for jobs, visit and exchange, hold lectures, etc., and some of them are applications for experiments, hoping to use the powerful functions of the Lunar Hadron Collider to verify some of their wonderful ideas about the microscopic world and the quantum world.

When receiving these applications, even Luo Wenxuan, who had seen a lot of the world with Professor Witten, felt a lot of surprise.

If it weren't for the need for his job and seeing the mountain of applications, he wouldn't even know that there are so many people studying physics in this world.

Does this discipline really need so many people?

He had never doubted this before, but now he began to doubt.

The conference was scheduled for December 18th.

Although it is only a week away from the Western New Year, that is, Christmas, and the slightest carelessness may miss the reunion with the family, no one complains in the slightest.

It was not easy to qualify for this event.

As early as two months ago, when IMCRC applied for the right to use the Shanghai International Convention and Exhibition Center, this top event destined to completely change the landscape of the future high-energy physics community attracted the attention of the world.

With the exception of those who were invited, the vast majority of those who applied to participate in the society on their own have been queuing since then......

……

Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.

In a somewhat nostalgic office with ordinary décor, even monotonous, Professor Deligne was sitting at his desk, staring at a piece of scratch paper with half-line calculations written on it, frowning and meditating.

It's been almost a week since that briefing ended.

He's been thinking about it on paper these days, but he still hasn't had any clue.

Sure enough, I still have to serve the old.

With a soft sigh in his heart, Professor Deligne shook his head.

Although his knowledge had not yet deteriorated with his eyesight to the level of a mortal, he could clearly feel that Beijing was gradually beginning to feel powerless in accepting new things.

Just as he was about to put the question aside for a moment and go to make himself a cup of coffee, there was a knock on the door outside the office.

Putting down the pen in his hand, Professor Deligne sighed softly, took off his glasses on the bridge of his nose, looked up, and spoke in a clear voice.

"The door is unlocked, please come in."

The door opened, and a tall, thin, middle-haired man walked in with an easy-going smile on his face.

"My old friend, I heard that you have returned from Huaguo?"

"I came back a few days ago," said Witten, thinking that he probably didn't have anything important to discuss with him, Professor Deligne put his glasses back on and picked up the half-line sketch paper again.

Noticing his movements, Witten asked, with a look of interest on his face.

"What are you researching?"

Deligne: "The Treatise on the Unification Theory of Algebra and Geometry...... It is the one that caused a sensation in the academic world during this time, and I recommend you to take a good look at it, although I don't know if you are still studying mathematics, but I dare say that it will definitely help your research. ”

Witten: "Didn't you just come back from China?" Haven't got it yet? ”

"The value of this paper is not only to understand it, but also to dig it out."

Professor Deligne smiled faintly, with a little approval and emotion in his eyes, and continued with a soft sigh, "This forty-page paper not only demonstrates the unified theory of algebraic geometry, but also puts forward a series of related generalized propositions, and most of these propositions are unproven, that is, the so-called conjectures...... Unexpectedly, he not only solved the problems that we have been troubled for thousands of years, but also how to go in the next hundred or even thousands of years, he has already pointed out to the latecomers. ”

Witten asked with interest, "So you're studying the Lu conjecture?" ”

"I just thought the questions were interesting, so I took them out and flipped through them for a while," Professor Deligne asked, looking at him as he looked at him, as if not wanting to admit that he was stumped by them, "...... Is there anything about asking these? ”

Witten smiled and said, "Actually, it's nothing, just to come and see my old friend before the trip, by the way...... Remind him about the bet. ”

Looking at the smile on the old guy's face, the corners of Professor Deligne's mouth couldn't help twitching, but in the end, he didn't pay the bill, opened the drawer with a straight face, and took out a notebook with a cardboard cover from it.

"Take it."

Ecstatically taking the research notes on Goldbach's conjecture, Witten took it in his hand and flipped through it with great interest.

Although he has not studied the ancient, esoteric, and pure art of number theory, no one knows better the value of this notebook.

"It's so clean...... It can't be a fake. ”

Professor Deligne said with a straight face: "Next time you go to Huaguo, you can stop by Jinling and ask him this question in person." ”

"Haha, I'm just kidding." Witten smiled, and after a pause, continued, "Speaking of which, it just so happens that I'm going to go to China soon. ”

Deligne: "That collider is done?" ”

Witten nodded and said with a smile.

"Yes."

"I can't believe it," Drigne smashed his tongue, "they really got the collider to the moon." ”

Putting the notebook in his arms, Professor Witten smiled, his tone tinged with emotion.

"That's how fascinating the magic of technology is...... It would have been nice if I had been born a few decades later, maybe in another fifty years, and none of the problems we have been bothered with now will be problems. ”

Professor Deligne said disapprovingly.

"Don't worry, as long as you still choose this line, there will inevitably be new troubles waiting for you."

Slightly stunned, Professor Witten then said with a smile.

"That's just as well."

Mathematics is undergoing a seismic shift.

As old problems are solved, more new problems will be born.

And physics, why not?

He has foreseen this day since the problem of Young Mills' equation was solved and the "unified theory of strong electricity" was born.

As long as that person's footsteps haven't stopped.

Sooner or later, this day will come.

Wonderful Book House