The report would continue.
However, compared to the previous shocking discovery, there was nothing else to look forward to.
It couldn't be helped, this discovery was just too shocking.
Many people thought of the neutrino oscillation experiment a few years ago, which proved that neutrinos, which were supposed to have no mass in the prediction of the standard model, actually had mass! Because of this shocking discovery, the building of the standard model was almost pushed down.
If there really was a particle at 750 GeV that was outside of the standard model …
In a sense, this clue really had the potential to be subversive.
A lot of people were looking at their watches, and some people even quietly left the venue early. They couldn't wait to rush to their laboratories and start writing papers to "explain" this new particle and new physical phenomenon. They would then post it on arXiv.
It was foreseeable that if the probability of this characteristic peak was really high, CERN would definitely start the Hadron Collider and conduct experiments to verify this clue.
If the data collected at the Hadron Collider proved that there was indeed a characteristic peak at 750 GeV, and this characteristic peak was indeed a new particle, not only would this mean "new physics", but it would also mean a Nobel Prize!
There was no doubt that this clue was worth betting on.
Peter Higgs slowly put down his clapping hand and spoke in an amazed tone.
"… Unbelievable, this is the amazing discovery you told me about?"
"Yeah," said Frank Wilczek, who was sitting next to him. He smiled and said, "I read his paper two weeks ago. Although the paper wasn't finished at the time, I had a hunch that this would be an amazing clue."
Peter Higgs thought for a while and said, "From a mathematical point of view, proving that there is a characteristic peak at 750 GeV, do you think this is possible?"
Frank smiled and said, "I think it's worth trying. Regardless of whether it's correct or not, this is indeed an important clue."
"You're right, I think so too." Peter nodded and slowly stood up from his seat. He said, "I have some new ideas about this clue … I'll go back first."
Frank reached out and stopped his old friend. "Wait a second."
Peter: "Is there anything else?"
Frank smiled and rubbed his thumb. He said, "You forgot to pay."
The two made a bet. Frank bet that this new clue would definitely arouse Lu Zhou's interest.
From the looks of it, the gambler had obviously won.
Peter was stunned for a second. He scolded with a smile and threw a crumpled Franklin on the chair. He then turned around and left in a hurry.
…
On the other side of the venue, Professor Lu Shenjian looked at Lu Zhou and said, "This kid is a bit interesting, no wonder he's my student."
Yan Xinjue could not help but ask, "But professor, didn't you say it was a quantum fluctuation?"
"I didn't say that," Professor Lu retorted with a serious face, "I just said that it's possible, and it's very likely."
Even now, he still believed that it was possible.
This was indeed an important clue, but whether or not this clue really meant a major discovery had yet to be tested by experiments.
Yan Xinjue continued to ask, "But if there really is a characteristic peak at 750 GeV, how can this phenomenon be explained from the perspective of quantum chromodynamics?"
Professor Lu shook his head and said, "I can't explain it. This phenomenon is beyond the standard model."
"Then why —"
"There's no why." Professor Gao interrupted the PhD student and smiled. He then said, "The purpose of physics is not for us to see everything we want. On the contrary, the purpose of physics is to find things that we don't expect. Then we can find new pieces of the puzzle to perfect our theory."
Any physics conclusion was imperfect, and it depended on the progress of human observation methods.
Therefore, even if Einstein proved the theory of relativity, no physicist would say that they were "anti-Newton" or that Newton's theorem of motion was wrong.
Similarly, if one day in the future, people set foot on a more distant galaxy and found that the theory of relativity was no longer applicable in a certain corner of the universe, physicists wouldn't say that the theory of relativity was wrong and that it just needed to be perfected.
The same was true for the standard model.
Yan Xinjue held his breath and asked with a trembling voice, "So you're saying that Lu Zhou's discovery means a new physics?"
Professor Gao thought for a bit and gave a vague answer, "Just maybe."
Yeah, just maybe.
But even if it was just maybe, it was quite difficult for a master's student.
…
Two and a half months had passed since Lu Zhou set foot on Europe in early May.
Lu Zhou looked at the calendar hanging on his bedside table and couldn't help but feel emotional.
If he remembered correctly, the students in Dorm 201 should have finished their final exams by now. The entire Jin Ling University would only be left with the graduate entrance exam students.
If his life trajectory was correct, he would be in his third year in two months. He would have to start thinking about whether to go to graduate school or find a job …
Obviously, he didn't have to think about these superficial problems anymore.
However, the number of problems he had to think about did not decrease. Instead, it increased.
Just two weeks ago, the European Nuclear Research Summit ended, and the researchers from the LHCb China cooperation group returned to China.
Originally, he was on the same plane as Professor Lu and Yan Xinjue. However, Professor Lu left him here and told him to go back by himself.
As for why, that was a long story.
After the report, Lynn Evans came to him with a new staff contract and sent him an invitation.
Lu Zhou's identity changed from a CERN intern to a CERN researcher.
There was no harm in having another identity. As for whether or not he would be bound by this identity, he didn't have to worry at all.
For an international research institute like this, the mobility of researchers was very high. For example, at the famous Argonne National Laboratory, the ratio of mobile and permanent staff was close to 1: 1. It was not uncommon for the academic community to have a name in a research institute.
CERN was probably one of the institutions with the highest turnover rate among all the scientific research institutions.
In addition to the member countries, there were also observer countries and partner countries. CERN had different personnel contracts for researchers from different countries and experimental institutions …
These contracts did not specify a salary, so it was not an employment agreement. It was more like an identity certificate.
For example, Professor Lu and Yan Xinjue both had similar identities.
As for what it was used for …
Other than the convenience of getting a visa and entering and exiting various research institutes that were not open to tourists, there did not seem to be any special use.
In addition, if one wanted to make some extra money, they could also use this identity certificate to sign a more specific long-term or short-term work or internship contract.
Of course, Lu Zhou did not stay because of a "summer job". It was because CERN changed the original experimental arrangement and began to verify the clue that he found.
Lu Zhou wanted to stay and see if his inference was correct.
Of course, this was only one of the reasons.
Another main reason was that the System had not determined that the quest was over yet. Clearly, it was connected to this part.
Because he was worried that the mission would be interrupted, he did not dare to go too far away.
In short, no matter what the reason was, an experiment of this level was not like a double-slit experiment or a single-ball pendulum experiment. At the very least, it would take a month, and at the very most, it would take half a year.
Therefore, Professor Lu Zhou left Lu Zhou alone.
After all, for an academician, time was very precious. It was impossible for him to accompany Lu Zhou and wait for the results.
However, Professor Lu Zhou did not completely ignore him. Before he left, he gave Lu Zhou 3,000 euros for living expenses and booked a room for him until the end of July. If the money was not used up, there was no need to return it. It was a reward for Lu Zhou.
After all, if this discovery was confirmed, regardless of whether or not new particles entered people's field of vision, he would be able to help the LHCb China Research Group, which didn't have much of a presence.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
