It wasn't just the mathematics community that caused a heated discussion.
The news that the ABC conjecture was proven quickly spread from the mathematics community to the entire university circle with the collapse of the arXiv server, and then from the entire university circle to the entire Internet.
In less than a day, whether it was Weibo or Twitter, whether it was Q groups, WeChat moments, or Facebook, almost everyone was talking about this matter.
"I heard that the ABC conjecture was solved?"
"What the hell? It was solved?! What's going on? "
"How could it be so fast! You must have heard it wrong, right? "
"No … It seems to be true. I heard that it was done by the ISPM research group, the team led by Academician Lu. Then yesterday, they put the preprint of the paper on arXiv, causing arXiv to be paralyzed for a whole day. "
"Ahhh! It turns out that arXiv couldn't be accessed yesterday because of this! I was wondering why I logged in for a long time.
I thought it was blocked by a wall. I'm a computer major, but I got shot! "
"F * ck, a paper crashed the entire literature library, and it's a preprint! Is it that bad * ss? "
"It's probably impossible for others. After all, the general preprint has little reference value. Everyone is more willing to wait for the published version to be improved. But after all, this paper was organized by Academician Lu … According to past experience, the papers he officially submitted to journals are almost no different from the preprint."
"Wait, the ABC conjecture has been solved. Does it mean that we can answer the question raised by the extraterrestrial civilization?"
"It seems like this … I'm afraid that the second dialogue with the extraterrestrial civilization has already been arranged!"
Everyone remembered the press conference half a month ago and the recorded conversation made public by the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China at that press conference.
Proving the ABC conjecture meant that they had been recognized by another intelligent civilization!
It meant that they had grasped the key to opening the door of dialogue!
Although there were also some people who had security concerns and thought that this was a test by the extraterrestrial civilization, whether it was the group that supported contact or the group that disagreed, they had reached a consensus on one thing.
That was to show the achievements of human civilization in the field of mind, which was conducive to friendly communication between the two sides.
After all, in order to communicate with another civilization on an equal footing, regardless of whether or not one's appearance was pleasing to the other party, one had to at least show the advantages of being an intelligent creature.
From another perspective, if the other party was a primitive civilization that could not even calculate arithmetic sequences, most human countries would not communicate with them with caution and respect.
Just as netizens all over the world were excitedly discussing the upcoming second dialogue, the governments of various countries were also shocked by this sudden news.
North America.
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington.
A confidential document was placed on the table in the president's office.
The president stared at the opened documents for a long time with a frown. He finally finished reading the documents and looked at the chief of staff standing at the desk. He slowly spoke.
"You mean … the ABC conjecture has been solved?"
He couldn't understand the complicated proof process, and he didn't want to know.
Right now, he only wanted to know one thing, and that was how certain this proof was to be true.
"Yes …" The chief of staff nodded with a heavy expression and said quickly, "According to the opinion of our specially hired mathematical science consultant, there is not much problem with the whole proof process. The research team organized by the Pentagon also has the same opinion. And even aside from these, according to past experience, Lu Zhou will only upload the paper if he is 99% sure that there is no problem with the proof process. "
In fact, it wasn't just China that was offering a reward for solving the ABC conjecture.
Since China released some of the dialogue recordings at the press conference, almost all countries with a slight influence in mathematics had used their administrative power to a certain extent to promote their mathematicians to carry out research on the ABC conjecture.
Everyone hoped to be able to complete the proof of the ABC conjecture first and use it as a bargaining chip to fight for more benefits for their country. Especially at the moment when the International Extraterrestrial Civilization Dialogue Organization was being established, whoever could get this key to the dialogue with extraterrestrial civilizations would undoubtedly win more speaking rights in this organization.
Looking at the silent president, the chief of staff reminded him.
"Now that China has taken the initiative in the dialogue with extraterrestrial civilizations, if we continue to delay on the issue of the extraterrestrial civilization contact agency, they are likely to bypass us and contact the other party alone. Then, they will force us to make concessions by creating a fait accompli. At that time, our situation may be even more passive than it is now."
He stared at the map on the wall with a frown.
After a long silence, the president's eyebrows loosened slightly and he spoke in a deep voice.
"We can only agree to them first."
At the same time, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, a similar conversation was taking place.
An invitation letter was sent from 10 Downing Street to the China Embassy in London. Chinese diplomats' cars were parked at the entrance of the Élysée Palace. In the Kremlin in Eastern Europe, a high-level diplomatic meeting was taking place. The Nippon Cabinet sent an invitation to a neighboring country across the sea for a high-level dialogue.
For a time, the global political scene was tense because of the proof of a mathematical conjecture …
…
North Rhine, Germany.
University of Bonn.
"I've read the paper." Faltings saw Schulz and went straight to the point. "Let me guess, at least 50% of the paper was completed by Lu Zhou … right?"
"Accurately speaking, it's 60%." Faced with Professor Faltings's blunt words, Schulz made a helpless expression and sat on the sofa in the office. He said, "It's not an exaggeration to say that without him, we would still be worrying about the entry point of the problem, or arguing over trivial things … Let's not talk about this, you should have read the paper, right? What do you think of the proof?"
Professor Faltings looked at Schulz with a smug smile on his face. He took a sip of coffee and spoke.
"I can't find any problems."
So there's no problem?
Schulz automatically translated this sentence in his mind.
After all, it was too difficult to hear sincere praise from Professor Faltings.
Looking at Schulz, who didn't speak but just smiled, Faltings frowned. However, when he thought of the question he planned to ask before, his frown gradually disappeared.
He continued unhurriedly, "I noticed that the special expression he used when describing the ABC conjecture is very interesting … How did you come up with it in such a short time?"
"According to Lu Zhou's own statement, it was based on Anabelian geometry, but Shinichi Mochizuki himself firmly denied this. He thinks that there is no connection between the two at all. Instead, he got a lot of inspiration from it. He plans to go back and polish his theory. "Schulz pinched his hair with some confusion. He said," Maybe it's a humble excuse. I heard that Chinese people have this habit. Anyway, I feel like he came up with it on a whim. "
It was still possible to have an idea.
Faltings's eyebrows twitched, but only for a moment.
Unless it was a problem like the Riemann conjecture, which even Professor Grothendieck felt embarrassed about, he would never express his praise.
"The proof of the ABC conjecture itself is probably no suspense, but the method you used is still worth in-depth study." Professor Faltings quickly ended the previous topic with a sentence. He put the coffee cup on the table.
After a few seconds of pause, he continued, "There is one more thing I have to tell you."
Schulz: "What?"
After organizing the words in his mind, Faltings said, "Yesterday, Ms. Kalicek came."
Schulz was stunned for a moment. He frowned and asked.
"Ms. Kalicek?"
Faltings: "She's the Federal Minister of Education and Research. It's normal that you don't know her, I'm not interested in her … If you don't remember her name, just remember her as the person who gives grants to the University of Bonn and the Max Planck Institute of Mathematics."
When Schultz heard this, the confusion in his heart didn't lessen. Instead, his frown deepened.
"What are federal bureaucrats doing here?"
It can't be mathematics, right?
For some reason, Schulz suddenly had a bad feeling.
Maybe Professor Faltings saw through his thoughts, but he shrugged and spoke nonchalantly.
"It happens to be related to your paper … Whether it's 10% or 20%, you have contributed to the proof of the ABC conjecture."
After a pause, he continued.
"Simply put, she hopes that you can represent the Federal Republic of Germany …"
"Go to Mars."
Schulz: "…?"
Lamp pen
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