What's the situation?

Why are everyone's expressions so frightened?

Xu Mang was a little confused, this neutron is just one of the nucleons of the nucleus, which is generally composed of two lower quarks and one upper quark, and it is not a scarce thing, is it necessary to make such a fuss?

"Xu Mang?!"

"Are you willing to be the person in charge of this project?" Fang Jun looked at Xu Mang seriously, and said seriously: "Give you one last chance, think about it carefully before answering!"

Xu Mang was stunned for a moment, he vaguely felt a little cool, could it be that this is a pit?

"I..."

"I don't want to?" Xu Mang asked tentatively, and only each other could hear the words.

"That's good!"

"You are in charge of this project!" Fang Jun said with a smile.

Xu Mang: ???

This...

This seems to be a routine!

At this moment, Xu Mang reacted, he had fallen into someone else's routine, no wonder he had to call himself over, it turned out that he was waiting for himself to jump, the eight-second difference in neutrons... Sounds a little incredible.

Tragic...

This is a human tragedy!

Everyone present looked at Xu Mang with sympathy, this project is a bottomless pit, it can destroy anyone's inner world.

"Funding issues. ”

"A total of about 300 million has been allocated above. Fang Jun said: "This money is not used for special research, if your research is successful, you can continue to use the rest of the money, and you don't need to hand it in again." ”

What the?

Isn't this blood gain?!

Xu Mang was pitted by the problem of funds in the past, and most of the funds allocated above can only be used for special transfers, and if the money is used indiscriminately, it may be heavy, but this time it is not the previous rules, and it seems that he has gradually paid attention to the use of funds.

Although this is a good thing, everyone present does not envy Xu Mang, the reason is very simple... Cannot be completed.

soon

This meeting is over,

Xu Mang was about to get up and return to the apartment to share this matter with Xiao Man, but he was surrounded by countless people, and there was not even a trace of a gap.

"Xu Mang... Don't you know the difficulty of this project?"

"Xu Mang, give up... This is an impossible project, Director Fang pits you. ”

"You... You promised too soon!"

Everyone was persuading Xu Mang, persuading him to give up the project as soon as possible, there was no need to waste time on a task that could not be completed, the eight-second difference in neutrons has plagued the entire physics field for fifteen years.

After all, once this problem is solved, it is very important to understand the amount of hydrogen, helium and other light elements formed within minutes of the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago.

Many physicists believe that if they can further determine the lifetime of neutrons, they can open a new chapter in physics, because determining neutron lifetimes can help constrain the measurement of other subatomic particles.

pity

No way...

In the face of the tide of persuasion, Xu Mang gradually realized that things were not as easy as he believed, if what his colleagues said was true, this was indeed pitted, and the one who was cheated was not ordinarily big.

In a flash

Xu Mang rushed out of the crowd and ran directly to Director Fang's office.

...

“...”

“...”

The two looked at each other, neither of them spoke, and there was silence in the small office, just now... Xu Mang proposed to Fang Jun that he would no longer be the person in charge of this neutron project, which was nonsense at the meeting before.

"Xu Mang... Let's be honest. Fang Jun smiled bitterly: "This project itself is for you, in fact, this project was proposed as early as two years ago, but of course no one wants to study it until you appear... I saw a little hope. ”

"Me?"

"I don't know much about neutrons. Xu Mang asked with a confused face.

"If you don't know now, it's okay, and it's too late to understand in the future. Fang Jun said: "Anyway... You are responsible for this project, you can do what you like, of course, it can't be too much, you should be able to understand the proportions in it. ”

Xu Mang: (°ー°〃)

I see

Feelings need one person to fill the scene!

At this time, Xu Mang knew the truth of the matter, in fact, the so-called large-scale scientific research project is a fireworks show, and he is the one who makes fireworks, although he knows that no one comes to watch, but what should be done is still to be done.

Whether it looks good or not is another matter, at least the fireworks should go smoothly into the sky.

"This..."

"Isn't this a free fund?" asked Xu Mang.

Fang Jun nodded and said seriously: "Actually, this amount of funds is completely insufficient, don't worry... It depends on where your research level is, the further you study, the more money will be spent, and you can do it yourself when the time comes. ”

"Oh..."

Xu Mang left Fang Jun's office with a trace of doubt, he didn't plan to go back to his apartment, he directly opened the door next door, sat in his office, and thought about the problem of neutrons.

Neutron...

It seems that the decay of free neutrons takes about fifteen minutes, after which they become protons, electrons, and antineutrinos.

Followed by

Xu Mang found two ways to measure the lifetime of neutrons, and downloaded the paper through the library, the first method is the so-called 'bottle' method, which is actually to strip neutrons from the nucleus, put them into a bottle, and then count how many neutrons are left after a while.

This approach has been adopted by many different laboratories around the world, including Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Laue-Langevin Institute. The lifetime data obtained by this experiment is 14 minutes and 39 seconds.

The whole world is one time, and there is no difference of half a second.

The second,

Neutrons are injected directly into a detector that calculates the number of protons produced when the neutrons decay, and the experiment gives eight seconds more data.

Impossible!

Both of these measurement methods are very accurate, how can there be a difference of eight seconds?

Magical!

Bang bang bang,

Then

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door of the room, which woke Xu Mang, who was swimming in the ocean of thoughts, and hurriedly shouted to please come in.

The next second,

Wang Jiafu appeared in front of Xu Mang.

"Xu Mang..."

"Why did you agree to this project?" Wang Jiafu said solemnly: "Don't you know how many doubts there are behind this project? Not only do you need a theoretical design, but also a specific experimental plan." ”

Xu Mang smiled bitterly, why didn't he know this, but unfortunately it was useful to say these now?

"Ugh..."

"Professor Wang... If I don't go to hell, who will go to hell?" Xu Mang sighed, turned his head and looked at the scenery outside the window, the sky was gray, just like Xu Mang's inner world, without the slightest color of sunshine.

Time

The whole office is filled with sadness, and sadness flows down the river.

"Huh?"

"Professor Wang?" Xu Mang asked curiously, "Has Wang Ai called you recently?"

"Hit. ”

"I knew that Wang Ai and the others had already started to investigate. Wang Jiafu showed a look of gratitude, and said to Xu Mang: "Xu Mang... I still need to thank you for this matter, thank you for giving Xiao Ai this opportunity. ”

"Hehe..."

"She earned it herself, not me. Xu Mang smiled indifferently: "Wang Ai is very good, serious, hard-working, and hard-working... I don't have to pick and choose. ”

Hearing Xu Mang praise his daughter like this, Wang Jiafu, as a father, was very proud, and he could hear that these words were not polite words.

"Professor Wang. ”

"By the way, have you ever studied the decay of free neutrons?" asked Xu Mang curiously.

"Ever studied. ”

"However, due to limited technology and capabilities, research in this area was eventually abandoned. Wang Jiafu sighed, and suddenly he reacted and hurriedly said: "I still have the research data at that time, wait for me to send it to your mailbox." ”

"Good!"

Send Wang Jiafu away,

Xu Mang was in a daze, thinking about what to eat tonight, and finally thought about eating braised pork in half an hour, when he received an email from Wang Jiafu in the mailbox, and clicked on it to see that there was a compressed package inside.

After decompressing, he got more than a dozen documents, Xu Mang went in and looked at them one by one, the content was quite detailed, but it was not very comprehensive, and it was hastily ended halfway.

It's hard!

It's hard to be a man,

It's harder for men!

Xu Mang stretched his waist, and then took out his mobile phone, when he encountered some problems that could not be solved, he usually looked at it for a while, mainly looking at the white cat.

"Hey, hey..."

"Five more chapters are owed today. ”

Xu Mang smiled, and after laughing, there was endless contemplation, and he couldn't help but say to himself: "People owe more than a hundred chapters to the white cat, and they update diligently every day, and they have never taken a day off, what reason do I have not to work hard?"

A minute later,

Xu Mang collapsed to death in a chair, his face covered with a physics book, he... Slept.

Xu Mang: Zzzz

midday

Xu Mang rushed back to the apartment, and then saw that Xiao Man seemed to have given up on himself, he used to be able to pretend to be a little bit, but now his 'burned' right hand was holding the potato chips, and while sending them to his mouth, he watched the variety show intently.

"Huh?"

"Are you ready?" asked Xu Mang.

Yang Xiaoman glanced at him, didn't pay attention to Xu Mang, and looked at the phone silently.

“...”

Xu Mang, who was left out in the cold, silently walked into the kitchen, just turned on the gas stove, poked out half of his head, and asked, "What do you want to eat at noon?"

"Shrimp fried rice!"

"Oh..."

The next second,

Yang Xiaoman wanted to commit suicide by jumping off the building, he was too unproductive, right? A bowl of shrimp fried rice was bought.

Forget it...

Quietly glanced back at Xu Mang in the kitchen, Yang Xiaoman walked up cautiously, and hugged Xu Mang as Xu Mang hugged her before... It's a pity that she is too short, and her head can only be attached to her back, instead of resting on her shoulders like Xu Mang.

"Don't hold me!"

"It's still so tight on a hot day..."Xu Mang let go of Xiao Man's hand with a look of disgust, and frantically stir-fried the shrimp fried rice in the pot.

In a moment,

Yang Xiaoman exploded on the spot.

...

Afternoon

Yang Xiaoman went back to work, while Xu Mang was thinking about the difference of eight seconds between the decay of free neutrons, but it was a pity... I don't have any thoughts, I don't even know how to cut into it.

Later, Xu Mang wondered, is it because the funds are not in hand, and his heart is not steady, which leads to a slippery slope in his thinking?

"When you get the money, let's talk about it when you get it. ”

Words fall,

Pick up a physics textbook on the coffee table, put it on your face and start sleeping.

"You have a new lawyer's letter, please check it. ”

The ringing disrupted his sleep,

Glancing at the number, it was Professor Philip calling.

"Xu Mang. ”

"It's time to meet. ”

......