Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The paper Lu Zhou published on arXiv stirred up waves of discussion.
Professor Ohanian’s shock was only a tiny part of the chaos in the physics world.
Ohanian quickly booked the flights and hotels and prepared to fly to Shanghai. On the other hand, the entire physics community was going crazy over this amazing paper.
“This is really spectacular. I don’t know how to describe the feeling in my heart!”
“As for the paper itself, I think it’s too early to give a yes or no answer. I think… At least before Professor Lu’s report, it would be inappropriate to give an evaluation… This is out of respect for him.”
Professor Wilczek, who loved to bet and debate with colleagues, remained rather silent this time.
Maybe it was because he lost so badly against Lu Zhou before, or maybe because he had missed another chance of winning the Nobel Prize. The uncertainty in the air made him unclear about whether he should express his opinion.
Professor Edward Witten was a leader in theoretical physics, and he had once won the Fields Medal. He also expressed his shock on his personal blog after seeing the paper.
Just like Professor Wilczek, he did not make a judgment on the correctness of this paper… Even though many colleagues hoped that he would do so.
“The Z particle moving from high to low dimensions opens up channels between dimensions? Straighten spacetime? This sounds like science fiction… Does this mean we can find a true straight path in the universe?”
“Even though I’m not certain whether he is correct, I hope he is.”
Even though the paper published by Lu Zhou was only a preprint, everyone in the physics world knew his habits.
He would never publish unless he was certain he was correct.
He would only upload a preprint after countless calculations and verifications, and even then, it was only when he was absolutely certain.
In addition to the two veterans in theoretical physics, the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics winner, Professor Duncan Haldane from Princeton University, also expressed his views on the paper.
His opinion was different from the other two big names.
As a man who discovered topological phase transitions and topological phase matter theoretically, he was one of the few physicists today who could rival the top mathematicians.
Especially in the areas of topology and algebraic geometry.
Therefore, for the paper published by Lu Zhou titled “The Effect of The Z Particle Transition on Spacetime Curvature”, he gave an evaluation from a mathematical point of view.
“… There is a certain degree of difficulty in the mathematical proof part of the thesis. Frankly speaking, even for me, it is quite tricky.
“If you aren’t an expert in algebra and geometry unification theory, and you have trouble regarding spatial imagination, I advise you to give up reading it for the time being. It will burn all of your brain cells, and you will get nowhere.”
Even though he spoke bluntly, his meaning was clear.
If someone was not very proficient in mathematics, they shouldn’t think about understanding the paper.
However, not everyone wanted to accept reality.
All those in the theoretical physics community were losing their minds over this paper. Many mathematics experts also cast their curious gazes toward this paper.
After all, this was Professor Lu’s paper.
After winning the Fields Medal and the Carl Friedrich Gauss Prize, this genius completed the unified theory of algebraic geometry, which shocked the world. He then faded out of the field of mathematics and hadn’t published new mathematics research results for a while.
Even though the paper published this time was not a mathematical paper, the theories it used were the most cutting-edge research in today’s mathematics world.
In addition to being an essential part of physics, this paper could be regarded as a standard in terms of its mathematical demonstration. The application of differential manifolds and the explanation of the unified theory of algebra and geometry were magnificent!
Because of this, many scholars had read this paper.
The influence of this paper quickly spread from the field of physics to the entire academic world, then spread to the public.
Although most people didn’t know what the Z particle was and what impact it had on high-dimensional space, one thing attracted everyone’s attention.
Which was that this could become the key to faster than light travel!
This interpretation made everyone want to understand what the Z particle was.
On Twitter.
The Z particle became a trending topic.
Before, this word was only understood by particle physicists. Now, almost everyone on the Internet understood what it was.
[Warp travel? Does this mean that it will take less than a second to reach the moon?]
[Jesus… This is terrifying!]
[Joining the Chinese ILHCRC plan is a wrong decision. Now, physicists all over the world are working for them, and soon, they will master warp travel and throw us behind! Just like they have done in the moon landing project!]
[This must be the darkest moment in human history… Remember the research from the ILHCRC some time ago? The Void theory! Maybe the channel they opened was not to go to some other planet at all, but straight to hell…]
[Wait, have you guys wondered if this could be fake news? That Lu Zhou guy just posted a paper, and you guys are freaking out! Maybe he’s just joking with us.]
[Problem is, have you ever seen him joke around?]
This comment ended all of the doubts.
Lu Zhou had never made jokes in academia.
Not even once!
If this were another physicist, they could argue that the author was just trying to receive funding.
But this was Professor Lu…
He didn’t need funding.
This was just a theoretical study that might become the key to warp travel. But in the eyes of many people, it was no different from a real warp drive.
After all, the name Lu Zhou was too dazzling.
The topic was widely discussed on the Internet, and it quickly attracted the attention of major media outlets around the world.
The third day after the paper was uploaded, the Washington Post published a headline.
The headline was quite long.
It was exactly what everyone was thinking.
[Is this the key to interstellar travel? Or the passage to hell? The latest discoveries of the world-renowned scholar might change our future…]
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