Chapter 159: Interview with the Times
"Congratulations, Xu Chuan."
In the auditorium, Chen Zhengping walked over and looked at his student with a smile.
"Thank you, teacher." Xu Chuan responded with a smile.
"The radius of the proton is much smaller than in previous experiments. Your new discovery will shock the entire physics world."
Chen Zhengping sighed and said that he really did not expect that Xu Chuan could really solve the problem of 'the mystery of the proton radius'.
When he originally suggested that Xu Chuan explore and research in this area, he just wanted to get him back to the path of physics.
Unexpectedly, in just a few months, he would have solved the problem of the proton radius mystery.
This is one of the most important questions in particle physics today.
Xu Chuan smiled shyly and said modestly: "It's not completely confirmed yet. Other experiments will be needed to verify it in the future to determine whether this theory is correct."
"But data doesn't lie. It's just a matter of time before your theories and ideas are verified."
Before Chen Zhengping could speak, another voice rang in everyone's ears. Professor Witten and Professor Wilzek walked over side by side.
After saying hello to the two of them, Xu Chuan introduced each other to each other.
"NTU is a very good university. If you have the opportunity, you can have more exchanges. Academician Chen, you have cultivated a very good student."
After hearing that Chen Zhengping was Xu Chuan's university tutor, Witten smiled and extended his hand.
Chen Zhengping was a little embarrassed and said with a smile: "Actually, I didn't teach him anything. He made these things by himself."
Witten smiled and didn't care. This is how Chinese people are, they have always been very humble.
For a scholar, no matter how talented he is, he cannot do without the patient guidance and guidance of his mentor.
Just like him, without the leadership of David Gross, I am afraid that he would not be able to make achievements in the fields of string theory, gauge field theory, and supersymmetric gauge field theory.
During college, a good mentor can help students avoid at least half of the detours. The importance is self-evident.
After the review was completed and the included materials of Xu Chuan's paper on solving the mystery of the proton radius were confirmed, CERN held a press conference to the outside world and eagerly announced this new achievement.
If there are no other more important discoveries in the second half of this year, this will be the most important research result in the entire physics community this year.
The radius of the proton has been accurately determined, and the previous mistakes have been found. The physics community has a more accurate value.
There is no doubt that this achievement has a significant impact on particle physics. If the radius of the proton is reduced by less than 0.8 femtometers, the Standard Model will be changed accordingly.
Because of the strong interaction force inside the proton that is related to the charge radius, if it exceeds the standard value, then the most basic things will be affected.
But fortunately, among the current observational data, the smallest data is 0.831 femtometers.
Although it is a full 0.05 femtometer less than the previous 0.879 femtometer, it has not yet reached the point of affecting the standard model.
With the CERN press conference, the solution to the proton radius mystery quickly spread throughout the physics community.
Some media reporters who were interested in this matter found Xu Chuan, who was still at CERN, and tried to interview him.
However, Xu Chuan was not very interested in these things and basically rejected them.
This increasingly aroused the curiosity of journalists from the news media. The Times Daily, which never sets, even found Edward Witten and asked him to help bridge the gap.
Xu Chuan could not refuse the offer from his mentor Witten.
After all, a large part of the credit for being able to solve the mystery of the proton's radius so quickly this time was that Witten applied for CERN's proton accelerator on his behalf.
Without this, or replacing it with an accelerator from another laboratory, this problem may not be solved.
After all, the proton accelerators and other equipment in most laboratories or scientific research institutions simply cannot meet the requirements of eliminating the metal container and directly placing the hydrogen atom cloud into the acceleration pipeline.
Choosing a time, Xu Chuan accepted an interview with The Times in an office at CERN.
"Hello, Mr. Xu Chuan, I heard that you have solved the mystery of the proton radius this time, which has been a problem that has troubled the physics community for several years. Could you please introduce it in detail?"
In the office, the reporter holding a black microphone handed the microphone to Xu Chuan's mouth.
"Of course, the mystery of the proton radius is."
Xu Chuan briefly and formally introduced this issue.
The Times is a comprehensive national daily newspaper that never sets. It is affiliated to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. It is a newspaper that has exerted a huge influence on world politics, economy, and culture. It has been for a long time It is unanimously regarded as the first mainstream newspaper in the country where the sun never sets.
Although I don't know why the other party is interested in me, when being interviewed by such a newspaper, I must be careful about my words and deeds.
If he accidentally gets tricked by the other party, then he may not be the only one who is embarrassed.
These Western media are very happy to directly elevate personal identity to the level of the country, especially when facing China.
Many people have been tricked by these unscrupulous media in the past, intercepting some interviews out of context and completely distorting the meaning of the interviewees.
"I see." The Times reporter didn't know whether she understood or not, so she nodded and continued to ask.
"Mr. Xu Chuan, I heard that you are now a formal researcher at CERN?"
"Yes."
Xu Chuan nodded and replied. This question can be found on the official list published by CERN, and he couldn't deny it.
The reporter quickly followed up with a question: "If I remember correctly, you have been at CERN for less than three months. At this time, other researchers are basically interns, and you have become a formal researcher. Do you have any special tricks?"
Hearing this question, Xu Chuan's heart jumped. After thinking about it, he replied: "There is no special trick. I applied according to the normal rules and regulations of CERN."
Hearing this answer, a trace of disappointment flashed in the eyes of the reporter.
They had read the information of this young man before coming. At the age of 18, he is quite young. He must have not faced such interviews many times. Maybe they can dig up something interesting.
But unfortunately, this young man seems to be more experienced and doesn't fall for their questions at all.
After spending more than half an hour accepting the interview with the Times, Xu Chuan returned to the hotel.
He didn't know how the Times would publish this interview, but he had tried his best to pay attention to the wording in the interview, hoping that the other party would not find any loopholes.
It is better to avoid interviews with newspapers and magazines that are not related to natural sciences.
God knows how these media reporters will evaluate him, or how they will take screenshots of the interview content out of context, or be a headline party.
For example, the headlines similar to domestic marketing accounts such as "Young Chinese scholars confirm small proton radius, standard model may be seriously affected" are definitely possible with the nature of these foreign media.
Anyway, don't overestimate the conscience of these media reporters, they may not even have such a thing.
After the Times completed the interview, they published their interview content the next day.
Maybe they didn't find any interesting loopholes in the interview, or maybe they found their conscience? Anyway, the content published by the Times the next day did not contain words such as taking out of context, but focused on Xu Chuan's age.
".The researcher who solved the mystery of the proton radius at CERN is an 18-year-old student from Princeton."
In the newspapers, the Times focused on Xu Chuan's age rather than the mystery of the proton radius.
It has to be said that this approach has indeed attracted a lot of attention.
For ordinary people who are watching the excitement, the solution to a problem that they can't understand is far less controversial than the fact that the person who solved it is only 18 years old.
After all, this age is really surprising.
With the popularity and traffic, other media have also begun to follow up.
After all, news involving that country in the East has always been more popular in the West.
And as other media follow up and dig, more information about Xu Chuan is also exposed.
"Shocked, the young scholar who solved the mystery of the proton radius and discovered a new proton radius is actually a mathematician. 》
"After solving the world-class mathematical problem of the Weyl-Berry conjecture, he actually reached out to"
"Mathematics and physics are both blossoming, and the 18-year-old boy from China actually solved two super problems in one year. 》
The reports of many media reporters pushed the news to a new height.
Solving a physics problem at the age of 18 is shocking enough.
And before that, this teenager from China actually solved a world-class mathematical problem, which is even more unbelievable.
Physicists and physics students are constantly discussing on the commonly used physics communication forums and websites:
[Incredible, the mystery of the proton radius has been solved? ]
[Looking at the press conference of CERN, it seems so. ]
[Is it because the metal container interferes with the scattering of high-energy electron beams? How come no one in the physics community has noticed this problem in the past. ]
[Our school was just about to restart the observation experiment of the proton radius, but when we heard the news, we immediately suspended it. ]
[I heard that the person who solved this problem seems to be an 18-year-old boy. ]
[Is it true? 18 years old, isn't this too young? ]
[Yes, he is indeed only 18 years old, and is currently studying for a doctorate at Princeton, with Edward Witten as his supervisor. What's more amazing is that he solved a world-class mathematical conjecture in the mathematics community in the first half of this year, and solved a new difficult problem in the field of physics in the second half of the year. 】
[Incredible, he solved a major problem in mathematics and physics in one year, and now you tell me that he is still a student. Am I crazy or is the world crazy? 】
[This is the super academic master whose back we can't see even if we look up. 】
[The next Einstein? Or the next Newton? 】
Xu Chuan didn't know about the hot discussions on the Internet. At this moment, he had returned to the hotel and was rushing to write his paper.
Although CERN has completed the review of the report meeting, he still needs to write the paper and materials and submit them.
After all, the experiment was completed with the help of CERN's equipment, and CERN has the right to collect and use these things.
Of course, this does not affect Xu Chuan's submission to other physics journals.
Because the publication and inclusion of journals are different from those of organizations like CERN, the former can be browsed and cited by people, while the latter is basically limited to CERN's internal staff.
However, with CERN's inclusion, the review process for submitting papers on the mystery of the proton radius will be much simpler.
First, the papers that have been included will be accepted as soon as possible, and then the review editor will find CERN staff to check. As long as the verification is correct and there are no problems, the paper can be officially published.
In terms of process and time spent, it is much less than ordinary paper review.
However, this is understandable. After all, it is a paper that has been reviewed by CERN, so there is no need to review it again. Repeated review is too time-consuming, and CERN's reputation is still guaranteed.
After spending some time to make a preliminary arrangement of what had already been written, Xu Chuan stood up and stretched.
The submission object for the paper on the mystery of the proton radius has long been selected, "Physical Review D" published by the American Physical Society.
Before this, he had submitted a paper on the calculation method of the "proton radius mystery" to the other party, so submitting another paper was not a big deal.
No physics journal would reject such a paper that is very important to the entire physics community.
After processing the materials, Xu Chuan got up, washed his face, and went downstairs to eat.
In the elevator, he bumped into Chen Zhengping who was also about to go downstairs.
"Go downstairs to eat? Together?" Chen Zhengping asked with a smile.
Xu Chuan nodded and followed Chen Zhengping to the restaurant on the first floor.
"When are you going to go back to Princeton?" Chen Zhengping asked while picking food with a metal plate in the restaurant.
Xu Chuan thought for a while and said, "Teacher, how is your work going? Do you need help?"
This time, I came to CERN with Chen Zhengping, and the air tickets, accommodation, meals and other reimbursements were all taken by this teacher.
Now that his own affairs are done, he is going to see if Chen Zhengping needs any help.
After all, with his ability, he can still do something.
Hearing this, Chen Zhengping stopped and asked, "Hasn't your work here been completed? Aren't you going back to Princeton to continue studying?"
Xu Chuan: "I'm still sorting out my papers and materials, and it will take some time."
"In addition, this time I came here to participate in your project, teacher, and all the reimbursements are on your side. I still have to do something."
"And I'm very interested in the Higgs boson. If I can participate in the project, I can also gain more experience and learn more."
Chen Zhengping nodded and said, "If it doesn't affect you, you are welcome to join my project team at any time."