Chapter 1324: An Unresolved Controversy
Professor Felix looked at the whiteboard that the waiter was dragging. He was stunned.
Because of his doubts about the fairness in the selection of the problems at the Century of Physics, Lu Zhou actually dragged a whiteboard out here.
What does he want to do?
Is it possible to find a way to apply the “Type-III Seesaw mechanism” to solve the problem of neutrino ma.s.s, to prove that my problem is not worthy?
How is that possible?
Professor Felix was almost amused by this.
If this problem was really that easy to solve, the physics community would have solved the mysteries behind neutrinos much earlier.
Lu Zhou didn’t pay attention to the weird look on Professor Felix’s face. He stood up from his chair and walked to the whiteboard leisurely.
“Thank you.”
After throwing a tip of 100 yuan to the waiter, Lu Zhou stood in front of the whiteboard and picked up the marker.
After only thinking for less than half a minute, he took off the marker cap and started writing on the whiteboard.
The tip of the marker swept across the whiteboard as Professor Felix watched intently.
Even though they were quiet, having such a large whiteboard in the cafe was a bit conspicuous.
Especially since the person standing in front of the whiteboard was Lu Zhou, the chairman of the ILHCRC! Winner of the n.o.bel Prize in Physics! The creator of hypers.p.a.ce theory!
There were countless t.i.tles piled on top of his head.
People were gradually attracted by the content on the whiteboard, and many curious people left their seats, gathering nearby in groups.
“What is Professor Lu writing?”
“The expressions of the Majorana ma.s.s term and the Dirac ma.s.s term should be the ma.s.s of fermions—”
“No, that’s not right! It’s the Seesaw mechanism! If I’m not mistaken… He’s explaining the origin of neutrino ma.s.s!”
The second this sentence was uttered, it was like a bomb was dropped on a calm lake, instantly igniting the atmosphere.
“Oh my!”
“The origin of the ma.s.s of neutrinos?!”
“There’s no way? This kind of thing… can be written on a whiteboard?”
“Nutty!”
For places like the ILHCRC, the cafe itself was a place for discussions on academic issues. No one cared if they talked loudly.
Attracted by the commotion, more and more people gathered here.
Professor Felix saw the calculations flowing like water on the whiteboard. He gulped.
He didn’t understand the calculations at all. In order to not feel embarra.s.sed, he casually looked around. However, he was shocked.
People gathered all around the whiteboard, forming a circle, trapping him and Lu Zhou inside.
At the same time, Lu Zhou, who was standing in front of the whiteboard, had a rather calm expression on his face.
He had entered a flow state, his attention was completely focused on the whiteboard in front of him. He wasn’t affected by the people and sounds nearby.
The realm of level 10 was mysterious.
That lines of calculations didn’t seem like calculations, but rather a spell that was woven from the words of the G.o.ds. Even though it didn’t have the energy to call on the wind and rain, it dominated and affected the laws of the universe.
Whenever he entered this state, Lu Zhou couldn’t help but feel emotional.
No wonder the level of mathematics determined the upper limit of other subject levels.
If he didn’t have level 10 mathematics as a support, it would be difficult for him to manipulate the language of the universe…
Time quickly pa.s.sed by. After he leaned down in front of the whiteboard and wrote the last line of calculations, Lu Zhou stood up and took a half step back.
He looked at the calculations on the whiteboard. With a satisfied smile on his face, he nodded gently.
“Not bad.”
Lu Zhou turned around and looked at Professor Felix, who was sitting on the chair completely dumbfounded. He spoke.
“The answer you want is here. I think these calculations are enough to tell you why your paper was screened out in the review meeting.”
“Wait a minute.” Professor Felix blushed as he looked at Lu Zhou, who put down the marker, and said quickly, “I still don’t quite understand. What did you… show? Can you tell me?”
Even though he was reluctant to admit this, this was the truth.
Halfway through Lu Zhou’s writing on the blackboard, he was completely lost. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t keep up with Lu Zhou’s rhythm.
This sentence was heard by many people nearby; voices of sympathy gradually spread around.
Obviously, Professor Felix wasn’t the only person who had not kept up with the rhythm of Lu Zhou’s writing on the blackboard. Everyone around here was the same.
“Of course I can, I actually plan on doing this.” Lu Zhou smiled faintly. He turned around and looked at the content on the whiteboard. He spent a few seconds gathering his thoughts, then said, “The dynamics of the origin of neutrino ma.s.ses has been a hot topic in the research of particle physics in recent years. This is true, but not all research is possible.
“So far, there are two possible ma.s.s items for fermions, the Majorana ma.s.s and the Dirac ma.s.s.
“If the neutrino is a Dirac particle, the ma.s.s of the neutrino can be directly given by the Yukawa interaction.
“However, our observations such as the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation show that the absolute ma.s.s of neutrinos should be less than 0.2 eV. Considering that the ma.s.s of the top quark is 172 GeV, it is obvious that only the Higgs mechanism can be used to explain this. The fermion ma.s.s spectrum cannot be applied!
“Therefore, the more common method now is to treat neutrinos as Majorana particles so that we can use the Seesaw mechanism to study the origin of neutrino ma.s.s—”
“Yes!” Professor Felix instantly became energetic. He said, “Are there any problems with my proposal paper? Didn’t I express it like this?”
Lu Zhou chuckled and continued, “Don’t get too excited. I haven’t finished yet. Using the Seesaw mechanism to study the ma.s.s of neutrinos is indeed attractive, but the Seesaw model causes inconsistencies in the unitarity of the lepton mixing matrix… Have you considered this problem?”
Whispers were heard.
Obviously, Lu Zhou’s remarks caused a lot of controversy among the crowd.
Professor Felix was overwhelmed, he was completely stunned. It took a while before he snapped back to reality.
“The Seesaw model standard will lead to the destruction of the lepton mixing matrix… This is a debate in the physics community, but it is just conjecture. How do you know that it must be true—”
“It was conjecture.” Lu Zhou raised his chin at the whiteboard behind him. He said with a smile, “Not anymore.”
There was an uproar.
The moment everyone heard this, the crowd went crazy.
People took out their phones from their pockets and snapped photos of the content on the whiteboard.
Some people were recording the whole process earlier, but people’s reactions were far more enthusiastic now.
Solved a long time debate in physics?!
Using one whiteboard?!
But there’s no way!
“This is impossible…” Professor Felix stared at the calculations on the whiteboard in a daze. He couldn’t say anything else other than repeating the phrase “This is impossible…”
If the Seesaw model led to the destruction of the lepton mixing matrix, then the Type-III Seesaw mechanism was not the best solution to the origin of neutrino ma.s.s.
So what was he researching for all this time?!
Professor Felix had a sad look on his face.
Even though he wanted to disprove Lu Zhou’s claims, to stand up and refute his opinion loudly, there was no hope in his heart.
It wasn’t because of Lu Zhou’s academic authority.
He had gradually begun to understand the calculations on the whiteboard. He gradually realized that what Lu Zhou said was true.
He simply couldn’t accept this reality.
He had been working on the Type-III Seesaw mechanism over the past ten years. He tried his best to find the piece of the puzzle that could fill the source of neutrino ma.s.s.
But the facts in front of him now told him that in the past ten years, he was spinning around in circles, complacent about some fundamentally meaningless results…
Professor Felix seemed to have lost his soul. Lu Zhou was silent for a while. He then sighed softly.
He understood the depression and sadness in Felix’s heart.
How many years are there in a researcher’s life?
The golden age of scientific research only lasts 20 to 30 years.
“Sometimes… This is how things happen.” Lu Zhou paused for a moment while looking at Professor Felix, who was ashamed, and said, “Reality is always difficult to accept because it doesn’t adhere to our expectations.
“The Seesaw mechanism might be a suitable idea, but a fatal loophole makes it almost impossible to reach the end of this road.”
“What should I do…”
“I’m afraid you have to answer that yourself. After all, I am not an expert in this area.” Lu Zhou thought for a moment while looking at Professor Felix. He said, “If the tool is broken, try fixing it.
“Although the Seesaw mechanism has many problems, I believe this is also an opportunity for you.
“Why not try to adjust the Seesaw mechanism in conjunction with the Leptogenesis mechanism? This model can explain the tiny ma.s.s of neutrinos and the asymmetry of the baryon number in the universe and can be tested in the Large Hadron Collider. The interaction makes it possible to experimentally test the mechanism… This is not possible with the Seesaw mechanism.”
Lu Zhou looked as Felix’s eyes light up. He then said with a smile, “Although I can’t explain why, as an alternative, I recommend that you start with this area.
“Perhaps you will find something.”