Oxford University Lecture Hall.
There were so many people below the stage that there were no empty seats.
The scholars sitting at the table either whispered to each other or flipped through the papers and report notes in their hands …
The chaotic noise was like a beautiful piece of music to Professor Brian Caro's ears. In half an hour, he would become one of the greatest mathematical physicists of the century. He would give the Yang-Mills equations Millennium Prize Problems a share of a million dollars … at least one-third of it.
For a scholar who did theoretical work, this reward was quite a lot.
Of course, his motive for solving this problem was not the reward money. At least in his opinion, money and honor were just side effects.
How should I put it?
Pushing civilization forward with one's own hands was a delightful thing in itself.
There were 15 minutes left until the report. Most of the participating scholars had already arrived, and those that had yet to show up would probably not be coming. The security guard at the entrance of the lecture hall opened the tape and began to selectively let in some master's, PhD, and PhD students who didn't receive an invitation letter.
Professor Brian was standing in the corridor next to the venue. He looked at his watch and looked at the venue with a hint of disappointment in his eyes.
At this moment, a waiter in a black suit with a bow tie walked over.
Professor Brian immediately looked at the waiter and asked.
"Is Professor Lu here?"
The receptionist was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and said, "No."
When Professor Brian heard that Lu Zhou didn't come, he was even more disappointed.
However, that was all.
Even though it was a shame that Professor Lu wasn't here, there were still a lot of big names that came to listen to this report. Regardless of whether Professor Lu was optimistic about his research, his report would continue as usual.
Fifteen minutes later, the report officially began.
Brian walked on stage and showed his PowerPoint on the screen. He began to explain his research ideas on the Yang-Mills existence and mass gap, as well as some of the methods used in the proof.
Sitting in the audience, Luo Wenxuan took a deep breath and opened the notebook on his knees.
It listed several problems that he discovered while researching the Yang-Mills equations and Professor Brian's thesis. It would be best if these problems could be answered during the report. If not, he would point it out during the Q&A session.
On the other side, Peter Goddard and Edward Witten from Princeton sat together.
Both of them were big names in the field of mathematical physics, and they were mainly engaged in the research of string theory. When they heard that Professor Brian from the University of Oxford claimed to have solved the Yang-Mills existence and mass gap problem, the two, who happened to be visiting CERN, immediately flew to the United Kingdom.
As Goddard listened to Professor Brian's speech, he suddenly sighed with regret.
"If only Professor Lu was here."
As the dean of the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, when Lu Zhou submitted his resignation letter to him, he tried to retain this promising scholar. Unfortunately, he didn't succeed. No matter how many times he thought about this, he couldn't help but feel a little regretful.
"He has his own difficulties." Witten smiled and crossed his legs. He placed his notebook on his knees and said, "Regardless of whether he's here or not, I believe that as an expert in the field, he won't miss this report."
Goddard: "What do you think of Professor Brian's thesis?"
Witten thought for a bit and said, "I need some time to think about it. After all, he has revised the preprint at least ten times. I only saw the final version a week ago. To be sure, there was something praiseworthy about his proof, but I always felt that something was wrong. If Mathematical Physics invites me to be a reviewer, I will write my opinion in the review … What do you think? "
Before the report, Professor Brian had already publicly stated that he would submit the final thesis to Mathematical Physics. If everything went according to plan, for a major proposition like this, Mathematical Physics would organize a panel of at least five people to conduct the strictest review of the thesis.
As a top mathematical physicist who won the Fields Award, Mathematical Physics obviously wouldn't forget Witten's name.
Of course, Peter Goddard, who was sitting next to him, was the same.
Dean Goddard went silent for a bit when he heard Witten's question. He then spoke.
"I feel the same way. His proof might be flawed … Also, I have another opinion on this problem?"
Witten raised his eyebrows and said, "Oh yeah?"
Goddard pointed at four points on the notebook and drew two lines. "A four-dimensional gauge field theory with SU (N), SO (N), and SP (N) as the gauge group may be equivalent to a string theory with 1/n as the string coupling constant … If this is the case, both the mass gap and the quark confinement phenomenon can be perfectly explained."
Witten raised his eyebrows and said, "From the perspective of string theory?"
Goddard glanced at him and nodded. "That's right."
Witten smiled and said, "Your opinion has successfully aroused my interest. Maybe after the report is over, we can go to a nearby cafe for a drink."
Goddard smiled and said, "Haha, if you want to invite me."
While they were talking about this new proof idea, the two didn't realize that they didn't have any hope for this report.
Two hours passed by, and the report came to an end.
Professor Brian finished the last page of his presentation, and there was a round of applause in the lecture hall. The entire report entered the Q&A session.
Because Professor Brian was well-prepared, he answered all the questions raised by the scholars in the audience.
Soon, no one in the lecture hall raised their hands.
Professor Brian was about to announce the end of the report when he suddenly reached out his hand.
"Wait a second."
Professor Brian looked at the lonely hand in the crowd and frowned. However, he quickly relaxed and spoke.
"What?"
Luo Wenxuan took a deep breath and closed his notebook. He then stood up.
Witten was sitting on the other side of the lecture hall. When he saw the person standing up, he looked surprised.
Goddard noticed Witten's surprised expression, and he asked, "You know him?"
Witten looked at Luo Wenxuan and smiled as he said, "Of course, he's my student."
Even though Luo Wenxuan had attended more than 20 reports, he still felt a lot of pressure being stared at by so many well-known scholars.
Lu Zhou calmed himself down and looked at Professor Brian on the stage.
"I have a question."
Brian: "Please go ahead."
Luo Wenxuan: "Page 11, line 15, I noticed that you used a torus Euclid spacetime method to define a constant action … Is that right?"
Brian raised his chin and said, "Of course, if we want to discuss this problem from the grid point formalization, this step is crucial to the entire proof process."
"As you said, this step is crucial, but …" Luo Wenxuan took a deep breath and continued, "But how do you plan to prove that the grid step size approaches the zero limit?"
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