Chapter 1149 The Particle
At the ILHCRC headquarters.
There were no empty seats left in the No. 1 lecture hall. Sitting among the crowd were researchers from the ILHCRC, as well as physicists from other research inst.i.tutions who traveled all the way here. There were even scholars from the Brookhaven National Laboratory who used their annual leave to visit here in their personal capacity.
The report would begin in ten minutes, and almost everyone was looking forward to it.
Lu Zhou, as the chairman of the ILHCRC and the initiator of the 750 GeV project, would summarize the data collected in the experiments and further elaborate on his theory of hypers.p.a.ce and the research on the hidden particles.
Witten looked at the venue and spoke.
“… I can’t believe it has only been a month.”
Prior to this, he spent an entire year preparing for this research project. He didn’t expect to make such significant progress within a month.
Besides Lu Zhou, he was probably the happiest person in the room.
After reading the experimental data, he knew exactly what the success of this project meant. If this hypers.p.a.ce particle really existed, it would undoubtedly prove his predictions in the M-theory.
Not just that, more importantly, this experiment would be the first exploration of higher-dimensional matter in the history of physics.
This would undoubtedly impact the future development of physics.
In fact, the particle itself was not as significant as its by-product.
After a long pause, Professor Witten spoke emotionally.
“… The Brookhaven National Laboratory probably regrets what they did.”
Professor Frank Wilczek, who was sitting next to him, did not reply.
In fact, the Brookhaven National Laboratory wasn’t the only one that was regretful.
A long, long time ago, about seven years ago, when Lu Zhou was still an intern at CERN, Frank Wilczek was the one who led the 750 GeV project. If he did not give up back then, the first higher-dimensional particle discovered might have been named after him.
For example, the Wilczek particle.
However, that was the past…
Ten minutes went by.
Wearing a formal suit, Lu Zhou stepped into the lecture hall.
Almost as soon as he stepped into the lecture hall, the noisy discussions in the venue faded instantly.
Lu Zhou walked on stage and grabbed the microphone.
He looked at the solemn audience and spoke in a clear and calm voice.
“Many years ago, I discovered an anomaly at the 750 GeV range.”
That was his short opening remark.
Lu Zhou continued to speak.
“I don’t blame CERN for abandoning my results; they were limited by the experimental conditions and limited by the lack of existing theories that could support my conclusions, whereas I was limited by my own abilities… There was no way to continue the experiments back then, it was the only choice.
“But never for a second did I think that my conclusion was wrong.
“This is not because of my stubbornness, but rather, it is because I found an anomaly in my calculations. Quantum fluctuations might be a convenient explanation, but I believe in my calculations more.
“Mathematics doesn’t lie.”
Lu Zhou looked around the silent venue and smiled. He then said in a pleasant tone, “It’s an honor for me to stand here and announce to you guys the latest research from the ILHCRC!
“After sacrificing countless hydrogen atoms, we have finally found the ghost that has been haunting us from the mysterious quantum world.
“The 750 GeV signal isn’t everything; it is only the part we are able to observe. Just like I initially guessed, its true body is hidden in the hypers.p.a.ce, and it cannot be directly observed.”
There was a commotion in the lecture hall.
More than half of the audience, especially scholars from other research inst.i.tutions, looked astonished. Although they had read the experimental data, most of them did not understand how Lu Zhou came to such a conclusive result.
In their opinions, the experimental data did not mean anything.
Lu Zhou noticed their expressions, and he continued to speak in a relaxed manner.
“Before I explain, I want to tell you a story.
“How can a person living in a two-dimensional world observe a sphere moving in the three-dimensional s.p.a.ce?
“Mathematically, this is impossible.
“Two-dimensional creatures cannot observe the three-dimensional world, there is no doubt about it. If we are lucky, we can use a beam of light from the three-dimensional world and project the sphere onto the two-dimensional world. However, without the beam of light, we won’t have a means of observation. The only time we can observe the sphere is when it lands on the two-dimensional world.
“An infinitely small area of the sphere touches the plane. Although the area is negligible, we might feel something is there, but we can never truly grasp its existence.”
“This is how two-dimensional creatures are limited.” Lu Zhou’s voice gradually became more serious as he looked at the scholars in the audience. He said, “They will never know that the extremely small point in their own world actually corresponds to a three-dimensional sphere. Maybe the sphere is a giant planet or a tiny atom.”
“Think about this carefully, isn’t this terrifying? Maybe the basic particles we know are actually in a higher-dimensional world. In fact, they are actually something much bigger and much weirder than we had imagined.”
Lu Zhou looked at the front row audience and quietly waited for a while, giving them some time to digest the information.
After a while, he smiled and spoke.
“Of course, studying the nature of the universe is not the focus of this seminar.”
After that, Lu Zhou turned around and faced the whiteboard. He drew a circle on it, then drew a few lines, which were supposed to be light rays. He then drew a plane, in which the circle was projected on.
“For example, imagine if the light source s.h.i.+ning on the surface of a paper is not perfectly perpendicular, but at an angle. Then the sphere would show itself to the creatures in a two-dimensional world. By studying the size of the projection shadow, one can calculate the distance of the sphere in the three-dimensional coordinate system and even calculate its physical properties according to its trajectory and speed. However, the 2D creatures won’t be able to see the sphere with their own eyes.
“And this is precisely what we did on the Lunar Hadron Collider!”
The audience gasped.
Most people looked even more astonished than before.
Lu Zhou continued to speak, “By doing multiple sets of experiments on the 1250 TeV, 1260 TeV, and 1300 TeV energy regions, we have collected more than enough data.
“Even though we can’t intuitively understand their existence, we can understand it in an abstract, mathematical sense.
“Just like I said in the beginning, mathematics doesn’t lie.”
Lu Zhou turned toward the whiteboard and wrote down a word.
[Zhou]
That was his name.
He also wrote a letter.
[Z]
“The Zhou particle, that’s the name.”
He looked at the silent seminar hall and smiled.
“For convenience sake, we’ll abbreviate it as ‘Z’.
“I will now use the experimental data to prove its existence.
“I will try to be as detailed as possible, but not everyone will be able to understand the process.
“So watch carefully.”