At the same time, while the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study was conducting experiments on "sonoluminescence" and "sound fusion", a conference on the Yang-Mills existence and mass gap was also being held at the CERN headquarters in Switzerland.
There weren't many people attending this conference, but most of them were well-known scholars in the physics community. More than half of them had won the Nobel Prize.
It was no exaggeration to say that if someone dropped a bomb here, the development of physics would stagnate for at least 50 years …
After Witten walked into the conference room, he found an inconspicuous seat and sat down. He was surprised to see another scholar sitting at the conference table.
Peter Higgs!
The discoverer of the God particle!
Ever since he returned to the United Kingdom from CERN 13 years later, he rarely appeared in the public eye. He was now 91 years old, and Witten didn't expect to see him at this conference.
However, when he thought about it, this was a conference that would determine the future of physics. Anyone who still cared about this subject would not miss this conference.
Before the conference began, Witten took some time to look around at the scholars in the venue. He noticed that Peter Higgs wasn't the only one here. Many reclusive physicists were sitting in this conference room, quietly waiting for the conference to begin.
"This is surprising." Jaffe sat next to Witten and smiled. He said, "I didn't expect to see so many old friends here."
"Yeah." Witten nodded emotionally. Just as he was about to say something, the sound of a microphone being tested came from the front of the conference room.
The CERN chairman cleared his throat and announced the start of the conference.
"We have discussed the problem of the Yang-Mills existence and mass gap for a long time, and we have wasted enough time."
"The entire theoretical physics community is waiting for our conclusion. I think instead of letting the debate continue, it is better to let the physics community know our opinion … Regardless of whether it is correct or not."
The chairman paused for a second and continued.
"Therefore, I propose that we express our support or opposition views by a show of hands."
There was a lot of whispering in the conference room.
The chairman looked at the commotion and coughed. He then raised his voice and spoke.
"Those who agree, please raise your hand."
Swish swish swish —
At least 70% of the people in the conference room raised their right hands one after another.
The staff sitting in the backstage counted the votes and fed the data back to the screen in front of the stage.
After looking at the voting data on the screen, the chairman nodded and gestured for everyone to put down their hands. He paused for a moment before speaking.
"Those who object, please raise your hand."
Swish swish —
Just like before, many people also raised their hands.
However, compared to the number of people who raised their hands, there were not many people who objected, only about 15%. Moreover, many of the hands that were raised seemed to be wavering. It could be seen that even among those who held opposing views, many people were unable to hold on to their views.
The chairman looked at the old man in the first row of the conference room and spoke in a respectful tone.
"Mr. Higgs, I noticed that you raised your hand twice. May I ask for your reason?"
Professor Higgs, who was sitting in the front row, stood up shakily.
He glanced at the chairman standing on the stage and spoke slowly.
"Mr. Chairman, the reason why I raised my hand for the first time is because I can't find any problems with that paper. The reason why I raised my hand for the second time is because I object to making such a hasty decision. "
The chairman nodded and said, "I understand what you mean, but we have discussed this for a long time. It's not just me, many people think it's time for a final vote. "
"I don't think it's enough." Mr. Higgs paused for a second and said, "Especially since he is the one who proposed this theory, he has the obligation to be responsible for his own theory, explain his views more clearly to us, and answer questions from skeptics. I have been paying attention to the official website of Jin Ling University, but Professor Lu doesn't seem to have any plans to hold a report. "
This sentence received a lot of agreement from the crowd.
At least more than half of the dissenting voices agreed with Old Man Higgs.
Professor Wilczek, another Nobel Prize laureate, nodded in agreement and complained to the chairman in annoyance.
"I'm not asking for much. Even if he can't come by himself, he should at least send a student or assistant to explain to us on his behalf!"
It wasn't uncommon for professors to send their own students to do academic reports. When they were busy with research or simply not interested in crowded places, some professors would occasionally send their own students to participate in the report instead.
For example, Shinichi Mochizuki, who proposed the "intercosmic theory", almost all of the reports on the ABC conjecture were done by his two students, and he would "control" the report through a video link.
Professor Lu's current situation was indeed not suitable for him to go abroad, and most scholars sitting here understood this situation.
But even if he didn't want to go abroad, he should at least send a student to do the report for him, right?
After hearing Professor Wilczek's statement, the CER chairman went silent for a while.
He then spoke, "I will convey your suggestion to Professor Lu.
"Let's not talk about the report for the time being. Let's talk about the content of the paper itself. Regarding Professor Lu Zhou's theory on the Yang-Mills existence and mass gap, does anyone have any doubts or objections? "
This time, no one raised their hand.
Even Mr. Higgs didn't have any objections.
There was also Witten, who didn't raise his hand even once.
The chairman looked around the conference room and breathed a sigh of relief. A smile appeared on his face.
Since these big names didn't have any objections, there shouldn't be any serious problems.
"It seems that we have reached a consensus on this issue.
"History will remember this day. We have taken a big step towards the Grand Unified Theory!"
He paused for a second and continued to speak.
"The discussion on the Yang-Mills existence and mass gap ends here.
"Also, according to the proposal of Edward Witten and other professors, regarding the experimental arrangements for the second half of next year, we will arrange the exploration plan for the m particle on the experimental schedule and test the energy zone predicted by Professor Lu in the paper …"
"Regardless of whether we can find it or not, I believe that the experimental data obtained will greatly promote our improvement of the standard model!"
The CERN meeting came to an end.
On the day of the end of the meeting, the world-famous physics temple issued a public statement announcing that they recognized Lu Zhou's paper on the Yang-Mills existence and mass gap. They also announced the meeting agenda for the next month on their official website, as well as the adjusted experimental schedule.
Breaking news came one after another.
All of a sudden, all the scholars and people who were paying attention to this matter were excited because of the voting result of CERN …
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