Over the next month, Lu Zhou's life was very regular. He basically listened to two lectures during the day and had free time after dinner. He would either play billiards with Yan Xinjue in the activity room on the R1 floor or play card games with a few foreigners in the activity room next door.
This month was probably the most fulfilling one he'd had in a while.
Not only was he able to learn new knowledge every day, but this knowledge was also very rare to find in books.
The last time he had this kind of feeling was at the Princeton conference. However, that was only for a short day. After all, he spent the next few days researching the twin prime conjecture. This time, it was as long as a month.
However, leisure time was always short.
Soon, it was the end of the month, and the originally relaxed schedule suddenly became tight.
Lynn Evans, the head of the LHCb international cooperation group, held a meeting in CERN's largest conference room. He summarized the reports submitted by the research groups and finalized the experiment guidelines.
Almost half of the big names in the physics community were sitting in this conference room.
It was an honor for Lu Zhou to attend this meeting as an intern.
However, he did not have the opportunity to speak this time. He only sat next to Professor Lu Shenjian.
In the last part of the meeting, physicists from various laboratories made supplementary suggestions on the details of the experiment. Evans also responded on behalf of LHCb.
Of course, it was not just physicists who were present. There were also people from all walks of life and major media outlets that were paying attention to the experiment. After the professionals finished asking questions, they would leave ten minutes for unrelated people. This was almost a custom for similar CERN meetings.
And these questions were generally very interesting …
For example, a British reporter stood up.
"Hello, Mr. Evans. When we interviewed Otto Rossler, a retired chemistry professor at the University of Munich, Mr. Rossler expressed his concerns about the collider experiment. He said that the experiment being conducted at CERN may lead to the formation of a quasar inside the earth … such as a black hole. Can you give the public a reasonable explanation?"
Faced with this reporter's difficult questions, Old Mister Evans was also a veteran, so he answered skillfully.
"Regarding this issue, we have replied to Mr. Rossler in 37 letters and pointed out his basic mistakes one by one. Of course, we know that people like him are not likely to listen. Thousands of scholars around the world worked on this machine, and we know what we're talking about, unlike this guy. Okay, next. "
Another reporter stood up.
"Can the theory produced by the Hadron Collider experiment be the theoretical basis for the time machine?"
Evans: "Our job is to test the correctness of the standard model and study the fundamental particles that make up matter. We have no plans to study a time machine for the time being … I've said it countless times. This project has been handed over to SERN. Next."
"…"
Listening to those strange questions, Lu Zhou secretly admired the old man's good temper. If someone asked him so many stupid questions to entertain him, he definitely wouldn't have the patience to answer them one by one.
Academician Lu, who was sitting next to him, tilted his head and spoke to Lu Zhou and Yan Xinjue.
"After today, we might be a little busy. You two should adjust your schedule."
Yan Xinjue nodded. "Yes, Professor."
When Lu Zhou heard that there was a mission, he suddenly became energetic and asked, "Is there a mission?"
"Of course," Academician Lu nodded and said, "We're not here to watch the fun."
Academician Lu did not explain the specific work to Lu Zhou, but Lu Zhou was not in a hurry. After all, he would have to tell Lu Zhou sooner or later after the experiment.
…
After the meeting ended, the Hadron Collider experiment entered the final preparation stage.
It was not only the CERN physicists who were nervously preparing for the experiment, but the French and Swiss special forces were also stationed in the nearby town.
In fact, since three days ago, this kind of martial law situation had begun.
The soldiers temporarily stationed at the entrance of the town would check almost every car that entered the town.
As for the several entrances and exits of the Hadron Collider tunnel, they had been temporarily blocked by the set up checkpoints. Unrelated people were not allowed to enter.
Just like that, about a week passed. Soon, it was the day when the experiment was restarted.
Yan Xinjue borrowed a car and took Lu Zhou to the site in the Gex district of France, which was what the CERN staff referred to as the "North District".
It was worth mentioning that the entire experiment did not require the Hadron Collider. A few professional staff members would go down and inspect the tunnel. After confirming that there were no abnormalities, they would report the situation. The CERN headquarters, which was dozens of kilometers away, would press a button. The researchers stationed at the scene would collect the data, and people sitting dozens of kilometers away could see it.
However, according to Yan Xinjue, it would be a waste not to go to the site to see what he was doing. Since he could borrow a car, Lu Zhou agreed to go out for a walk.
When they were approaching the North District, the two encountered soldiers who were interrogating them. However, after they showed the relevant documents, they were quickly let through.
Sitting in the car, Lu Zhou looked back at the checkpoint behind him and asked, "Are they here to protect the Hadron Collider?"
Yan Xinjue replied casually while driving, "The collider needs protection? Well, it might look like that to outsiders, but they're not actually protecting the collider. They're protecting the citizens of both countries. "
"… What?"
Yan Xinjue held the steering wheel and shrugged, "Every year, people say that the black hole created by the Hadron Collider could destroy the entire Europe. Every year, there are protests against the restart of the Hadron Collider. This year, there was a protest in Paris. Then, France sent a team over, saying that they could control the situation … Although it sounds like French humor, it seems to be the case. "
Lu Zhou could not help but ask, "Why would anyone believe this nonsense?"
"Because CERN is always looking for trouble. They hire unreliable press spokespeople who always say unreliable things at press conferences. I can't remember which year it was, I think it was 2008 or 2007. Their spokesperson joked at the press conference that the upgraded LHC could even create a miniature black hole by colliding lead ions, but before it could interact with the particles in the outside world, it automatically disintegrated … I guess he just wanted to show off how advanced the LHC was, but the media only reported the first half of his sentence. "
"What happened then?"
Yan Xinjue smiled and said, "Then they successfully made a big news. Now, almost every year, people come here to protest. Some environmental protection organizations even tried to sneak into the orbit to stop the experiment. CERN had to hire a large number of firefighters to rescue those idiots from the orbit and ask them how they got in … Things have only gotten better recently."
When Lu Zhou heard this, he was secretly shocked.
Sneaking into the Hadron Collider was like trying to kill themselves.
There was only one person in history who was hit by the collider's particle beam. Although this guy survived, the rest of his life was as miserable as a Soviet veteran who came back from Chernobyl.
Not only did the experiments produce high-intensity radiation, but there was also the fatal danger of hypoxia. This was because the accelerator's magnetic tracks were soaked in liquid helium. Once a leak occurred, it would quickly fill up the space. How far you could run depended on how long you could hold your breath.
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