The interview was scheduled for a week later.
Recently, Lu Zhou had been busy with the miniaturization of controllable fusion.
In order to increase the peak temperature of the bubbles in the working liquid, Lu Zhou and several old professors from the Institute of Acoustics tried to improve the ultrasonic generator. By removing the acoustic levitation stabilizer from the generator, they increased the energy in the ultrasonic wave and increased the maximum sound pressure acting on the bubbles from 15 times atmospheric pressure to 30 times atmospheric pressure.
Of course, this came with a price.
Without the acoustic levitation stabilizer, the bubbles in the solution couldn't float in the center of the container.
However, sonoluminescence didn't require the bubbles to float in a stable position in the container, so this side effect didn't matter.
After updating the experimental equipment, Lu Zhou immediately repeated the experiment with Sheng Xianfu and the others. They used a mixture of xenon and deuterium-tritium gas, and they observed the temperature of the bubbles and the neutron recovery rate.
Sheng Xianfu handed the completed experiment report to Lu Zhou. He had a mixed expression on his face as he spoke.
"The situation is still not optimistic. The peak temperature can reach a maximum of 10 million Kelvin, but the lowest is only around 500,000 Kelvin."
Lu Zhou looked at the experiment report in his hand and frowned.
"That big of a deviation?"
Sheng Xianfu nodded and said, "The temperature changes observed through the black-body radiation are quite unstable. I don't know if there's a problem with our observation method or something else."
If each bubble collapse could reach a temperature of 10 million Kelvin, and taking into account factors such as volume shrinkage, it would be possible to stabilize the fusion reaction by means of pulse ignition. However …
Lu Zhou asked, "What about the neutron proliferation rate?"
Sheng Xianfu hesitated for a second and said, "It's improved … But it's still far from stable controllable fusion."
Lu Zhou thought for a bit and asked, "How is the new experimental container going?"
Sheng Xianfu: "The China National Nuclear Corporation has already completed it. It will probably be delivered tomorrow."
When Lu Zhou heard this, his expression finally relaxed a bit.
He placed the experiment report on the table and spoke.
"That's all for today's experiment. We'll check the equipment tomorrow. The day after tomorrow, we'll directly use liquid lithium. "
Sheng Xianfu nodded solemnly.
"Yes!"
Just as Lu Zhou predicted, when liquid lithium was used as the working liquid, its sonoluminescence performance was indeed better than concentrated sulfuric acid and aqueous solutions. Especially when the deuterium-tritium gas mixture was introduced, the sound pressure acting on the surface of the bubble increased significantly, reaching a maximum of 31.7 times the atmospheric pressure.
However, the liquid lithium working at 700 degrees Celsius was too reactive, and the experiment was several times more dangerous than when they were using concentrated sulfuric acid.
Especially in the third experiment, because the operator accidentally mixed a small amount of oxygen when electrolyzing heavy water and super-heavy water to produce a deuterium-tritium gas mixture, a string of flames suddenly sprang up in the container the moment the gas was passed in.
Fortunately, the amount of oxygen mixed in was not large, and several researchers in the laboratory reacted in time. Only then did they manage to salvage the laboratory. If it really melted through the working container and caused the high-temperature liquid lithium in the container to come into direct contact with the air, then not only would the laboratory be destroyed, but even a few load-bearing walls would collapse …
In short, from then on, the entire Institute for Advanced Study looked at Sheng Xianfu differently …
Time quickly passed by, and soon, it was the day of the interview.
Lu Zhou was in his office at Jin Ling University, and he met with the CTV interview team.
Speaking of which, it was quite a coincidence that the reporter responsible for interviewing him had only met him once before the New Year.
"Hello, Professor Lu," said He Ying. She had a professional smile on her face as she reached out her right hand and gently shook Lu Zhou's hand. She then said in a pleasant voice, "We meet again."
Lu Zhou let go of her hand and smiled as he nodded.
"Long time no see, Miss He … Should we start now?"
He Ying smiled and nodded as she said, "Let's start now."
She knew that Lu Zhou was very busy with his research, so she didn't waste any time on small talk. She quickly brought the interview to the main topic.
After He Ying sat down on the sofa, she adjusted her sitting posture and signaled the cameraman to start. She then put on a professional smile and looked at Lu Zhou as she said, "I'm honored to have the opportunity to interview you. Before the interview begins, I want to ask you a few questions on behalf of the TV audience."
Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Ask away, as long as it's something I know, I'll tell you everything."
He Ying smirked and said, "Don't worry, it's not a difficult question."
She paused for a second and said, "We all know that the Yang-Mills equations' Yang-Mills existence and mass gap problem has been solved. The unification of the strong interaction and electromagnetic force will completely change the face of physics in the future. However, for most people, this kind of abstract statement would only confuse them. What do you think about the future of physics? "
Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Is this the first question?"
He Ying smiled and said, "It might be difficult for other people, but it shouldn't be difficult for you, right?"
"From a scholar's point of view, regarding the future of theoretical physics … I really don't know how to answer this question. After all, no one knows if a new physics will be born tomorrow." Lu Zhou thought for a bit and said, "In the long run, the Grand Unified Theory is what theoretical physicists are after. Now that the strong interaction and electromagnetic force have been successfully built, all that's left is gravity. Of course, we don't know much about gravity. Maybe even after a century, we'll only be able to understand a little bit. "
He Ying asked in a serious manner, "Is there still no conclusion about the cause of gravity?"
Lu Zhou: "Of course, gravity is probably the most mysterious field in physics. Even though we feel it more directly than the other three fundamental forces, we know the least about it. Even though string theory and loop quantum gravitation have explained the reason for its birth from two completely opposite approaches, no one can say for sure which of them is correct. "
He Ying continued to ask, "Then what about a more realistic goal?"
Lu Zhou leaned back on the sofa and thought for a bit before he said, "A more realistic goal, or a short-term and medium-term goal, is to verify and explore the standard model. Even though the standard model is great enough, through theoretical research and some experiments, we can always find something outside of the standard model. "
Lu Zhou paused for a second and said in a joking tone, "For example, the m particle. Even though I don't know what it looks like, I can prove that it exists through mathematical methods. If someone can find it, we can add a new piece of the puzzle to the standard model. "
He Ying: "That sounds very exciting."
Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Of course, the exploration of the unknown itself is exciting."
He Ying: "Having said that, theoretical physics is still a very distant existence for most of us. Can you explain to us what kind of impact theoretical physics research can have on our society and our civilization? "
Lu Zhou thought about this question for a long time.
He Ying began to wonder if she asked a question that she couldn't answer. She was about to ask the cameraman to cut this part out when Lu Zhou suddenly spoke.
"This is a very abstract proposition. It's hard for me to tell you what kind of effect a certain discovery in theoretical physics can have. Just like the Higgs particle, gravitational waves, and everything else that we have discovered or obtained from the universe over the years, most of them are useless to ordinary people.
"Even the m particle that I talked about before, even if we stand on the basis of the electrostrong and electroweak unified theories and further unify the four fundamental forces, the universe won't change because of us. Maybe if we use the research funds to improve people's lives, we can fill more people's stomachs and make our lives better. "
Lu Zhou paused for a second and spoke in a serious tone.
"However, if no one does what is deemed useless, we will have no future to speak of."
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