Princeton.
An office at the Institute for Advanced Study.
Wei Wen was sitting in front of his desk. He stared at the draft paper on his desk and thought hard.
In 2019, after he resigned from Princeton, Lu Zhou introduced him to Professor Witten to do research in mathematical physics.
When Wei Wen first became a PhD student under Professor Witten, he was quite excited.
Anyone in the field of mathematical physics would have heard of Witten's name.
However, it was not an easy thing to study under a big name. This excitement did not last long, and he gradually began to feel the strain.
Because Witten often went to CERN, he spent less than a third of his time in Princeton. Most of the time, he had to face academic difficulties alone.
After becoming a student of Professor Witten, he finally understood why Professor Lu's student, Luo Wenxuan, could not graduate for so many years. Also, he finally realized how much Professor Lu cared for them. Professor Lu always took great care of them.
Even though it had been more than a year since Lu Zhou graduated, Luo Wenxuan would still help him when he encountered a problem that he could not solve.
For example, entrusting him to a scholar he knew …
Professor Fefferman walked next to him with two cups of coffee. He placed a cup of coffee next to him and spoke in a gentle tone.
"Do you have an idea?"
"Not yet."
"Do you need help?"
Wei Wen shook his head. He stared at the lines of calculations on the paper and continued to compete with each other.
"No, thank you. You've already given me enough help … Give me another ten minutes. I feel like I'll find the answer soon. I'm just a little bit away."
"I'm afraid ten minutes isn't enough, two hours," Professor Fefferman said as he looked at the watch on his wrist. He then said, "I have a differential equation class in a bit. You can find me in the Princeton mathematics department before six o 'clock."
Wei Wen said shamefully, "Sorry for taking up so much of your time."
"It's fine, I haven't been very busy lately." Professor Fefferman took a sip of his coffee and smiled. He said, "Not to mention that Professor Lu has helped me a lot. He's not here right now, so if you have any questions, you can ask me."
Wei Wen laughed bitterly in his heart, but did not say anything.
Although he could feel that Professor Fefferman really told him not to worry too much, he felt even more ashamed.
Perhaps, this was a cultural difference.
Just then, there was a knock on the door. Soon, a bespectacled, young man walked in.
Fefferman seemed to recognize him, especially when he saw the stack of A4 papers in his hand. Fefferman's face suddenly showed a somewhat troubled expression.
As if confirming his speculation, the man waved the thesis in his hand and spoke. "Professor Fefferman, Professor Sarnak from the editorial department of Annual Mathematics asked me to bring this thesis to you. He asked me to euphemistically convey to you that he wants you to be the reviewer for this thesis. "
"Then remember to tell him for me that this is not euphemistic at all. I hope that next time he will send the review invitation along with the thesis to my email." Professor Fefferman shrugged and said, "Also, I have a vacation in two days, so please find someone else."
"Mr. Sarnak expected you to say this." The assistant continued, "He told me to tell you that you are the most suitable person. Only you are capable of reviewing this thesis."
Professor Fefferman stared at the assistant for a while and sighed with a cup of coffee in his hand.
"Okay then, bring it over."
He wasn't good at rejecting other people's requests, especially when it came from his field of expertise.
Seeing that Professor Fefferman agreed, the assistant immediately smiled and handed the thesis over. He then said, "Okay, professor."
After the thesis was delivered, the assistant didn't stay in the office any longer and quickly left.
Fefferman still had a class, so he didn't have time to read the thesis carefully. Therefore, he only skimmed through the thesis.
There was no name on the thesis.
This kind of double-blind review occasionally happened.
Fefferman guessed that the author was either someone he knew or a colleague working at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study.
However, this wasn't the main point.
Even if he could guess who the author was from the style of the thesis, he wouldn't go easy on the thesis just because he knew someone.
"Proof of the existence of a solution to the Yang-Mills equations? Shouldn't Witten read this kind of thesis? I bet he's more interested in it than I am. "
When Fefferman saw this "exaggerated" title, he raised his eyebrows and continued to read.
But very quickly, he let out a soft cry of surprise, and his relaxed eyebrows also slightly furrowed.
Wei Wen noticed the change in his expression and hesitated for a second.
"What, professor?"
Professor Fefferman stared at the thesis for a while. He suddenly smiled and shook his head.
"… Nothing."
He finally knew why Sarnak insisted on letting him review this thesis.
"L Manifold … And the partial differential geometry method for partial differential equations." Professor Fefferman's index finger swept across the ink on the A4 paper. He smiled and said emotionally, "There's only one person who can apply this theory to this extent."
Wei Wen's expression changed.
"Professor Lu's thesis?"
"Yeah." Professor Fefferman nodded and said, "Proof of the existence of a solution to the Yang-Mills equations. It seems like he hasn't stopped advancing in mathematics."
When Wei Wen heard the content of the thesis, he took a deep breath. He was shocked beyond words.
Challenging two Millennium Prize Problems in a row …
Is he even human?
Professor Fefferman sat down at his desk and took out his phone from his pocket. He opened his contact list and called his PhD assistant.
"Hey, Lewis, are you free right now? There's a partial differential equation class in half an hour. I don't care if you're free or not, I hope you can find someone to go to class for me. "
"Yeah, I have something to do."
"It's important."
Three sentences in total.
After explaining the matter clearly, he hung up the phone and put the phone on the desk.
As he looked at the thesis on the table, his pupils began to flash with excitement.
Let me take a look.
You're leaving Princeton for a year.
Have you improved or regressed in your mathematics skills?
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