Luan Jingtong frowned, what kind of project is it, it needs a research fund of 1.5 million.

Pang Xuelin's achievements in mathematics are undoubted, but the project he said also requires the participation of professors from the Department of Chemical Engineering, and Luan Jingtong is a little hesitant.

However, when he thought of the place where Pang Xuelin went last night, Luan Jingtong gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, Teacher Pang, the school has all the funds of 1.5 million yuan." ”

Pang Xuelin laughed and said, "Principal Luan, let's take the trouble to redraw the contract, and you can rest assured, this one and a half million will definitely not be spent in vain." ”

Luan Jingtong smiled helplessly, now it is useless for Pang Xuelin to say anything, he will only believe it when he really sees the results.

Then, Luan Jingtong chatted with Pang Xuelin and them for a while, and then left with Li Zhiguo.

In the living room, there were only Pang Xuelin, Edward Witten, Zhu Fengzhang, and Yang Quan.

Pang Xuelin turned his gaze to Zhu Fengzhang and Yang Quan, and asked, "Doctor Yang, Xiao Zhu, have you arranged where you live?" ”

Yang Quan pursed his lips and said: "Professor Pang, I am from Beijing, my home is on the side of Zhichun Road, and I can commute by bicycle every day." ”

Zhu Fengzhang said: "Professor Pang, I will live here with you, you can call me at any time if you want to go out." ”

Pang Xuelin nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll trouble you next." Let's have a meal together at home in the evening, and everyone will get acquainted. ”

Zhu Fengzhang and Yang Quan glanced at each other and nodded.

Then Pang Xuelin said the same thing to Witten again.

Witten is indispensable.

He followed Pang Xuelin to China alone, although the school assigned him a full-time assistant, but he won't come over until tomorrow, anyway, there is nothing to do today, just eat here with Pang Xuelin.

In the evening, everyone decided to eat the old Beijing copper pot mutton, Yang Quan volunteered to prepare the ingredients and copper pot, and Zhu Fengzhang was sent by Yang Quan to buy vegetables.

Pang Xuelin went upstairs to take a look again, and there were also three bedrooms upstairs plus a bathroom, and a small terrace.

All rooms are cleaned, furniture, bedding and everything is brand new, and you can move in at any time.

When Yang Quan cleaned up the kitchen, he also found a jar of unopened West Lake Longjing new tea and a complete set of tea sets.

Pang Xuelin made a pot of tea and came to the terrace with Witten, drinking tea and chatting at the same time.

After more than a month of communication, the two have long been like old friends who have known each other for many years.

In the previous worlds, Pang Xuelin focused his main energy on mathematics, chemistry and carbon-based materials, and knew a general idea of physics, but he did not study the cutting-edge theories in depth.

In this month, Pang Xuelin explained the relevant theories of Ponzi geometry to Witten, and Witten popularized the relevant knowledge of theoretical physics and string theory to Pang Xuelin, and both of them benefited a lot.

"Pang, sometimes I wonder if there's any point in the work we're doing. Even if we really use mathematical means to unify general relativity and quantum mechanics and build a new grand unified theory. We can depict everything from the crazy dance of quarks in the subatomic world to the elegant waltz of twin stars in space, from the primordial fireball of the Big Bang to the magnificent whirlpool of stars, but it is unlikely that we will see the ultimate theory confirmed in our lifetime. Now there are many people who say that those of us who are engaged in theoretical physics are typical representatives of utopian science. Sometimes I think they are right, if the theory is not proven, even the most beautiful physical theory will fall into the realm of metaphysics......"

Witten said with some emotion.

Pang Xuelin was slightly stunned, although he was a mathematician, he had heard such an exclamation more than once in the real world.

In the field of theoretical physics, this is not the view of one person, but the consensus of many physicists: theoretical physics has begun to enter utopianism, the "holy grail of science" is becoming more and more distant from mankind, and relying on the study of fundamental particles by large colliders to push physics forward has reached a dead end.

There is a lot of evidence for this.

In the past 60 years, no great theory of physics has been developed.

In the past 60 years, no great physicist has been regarded as a "beacon".

In the past 60 years, no exciting newcomer theory has been tested.

……

Even if he and Witten get the theory done, it is also a question whether this theory can be verified in the future.

After all, according to the results calculated by superstring theory, the energy magnitude of the Great Unification Theory is currently predicted to be 0^24 eV, and the Large Hadron Collider collision produces 0^3 eV, which is an order of magnitude in between, which is called the "Great Desert" by physicists.

With a conventional linear accelerator, 7 light-years long would be required to reach 0^24eV. With a wake accelerator, it would take 4.7 billion kilometers, which is about the same length as the circumsolar accelerator in the three-body problem. In order to reach the quantum gravitational energy level, it may take hundreds of thousands of light-years with conventional accelerators, that is, the legendary Ring Galaxy Accelerator, and it is basically impossible to build an accelerator that can break the "Great Desert" with the current capabilities of human beings.

Even the discovery of the Higgs boson in the real world in 202 was only based on the theory discovered by Yang Zhenning and his student Mills in 954.

The Young-Mills field has been able to unlock all the secrets of nuclear matter, and can explain any experimental data on subatomic particles.

When it comes to explaining the interaction between electrons and light, it is said to be one in ten million with an accuracy of one in ten million, claiming to be the most accurate theory ever written!

This theory is so precise that it has been called the "Standard Model" by the scientific community.

But since then, there has been no way to verify any new ideas put forward by the theoretical physics community.

This is also the reason why Mr. Yang Zhenning, a later generation, said that the feast of high-energy physics is "over" and openly opposed China's construction of a large collider.

On the surface, Yang Zhenning opposes China's construction of the collider, but in fact he has lost confidence in "fundamental particle research", which is the most cutting-edge field of physics and the hope of the ultimate theory of physics.

A top physicist no longer trusts the most cutting-edge physics research directions of our time, perhaps this is the sadness of physics.

Pang Xuelin smiled, he didn't have such an emotion as Witten.

On the one hand, his main field of research is still in mathematics, and his understanding of this problem is not so profound, on the other hand, whether it is the miraculous system he carries on his own body or the worlds he has experienced, it indicates that the great unified theory that human beings are trying to hope for is far from the end of physics.

"Professor Witten, we need not be so pessimistic at all, before Einstein discovered the theory of relativity, physicists thought that Newtonian mechanics was the end of physics, and before Riemann proposed Riemannian geometry, Euclidean geometry dominated the mathematical world for two thousand years. Perhaps the new theories we are trying to find are not necessarily correct, but we are paving the way for the future of humanity. The progress of science and civilization is always moving forward in trial and error, and the geniuses who find the truth are the heroes of mankind, but those scientists who are drowned in the long river of history and explore the wrong road all their lives are also heroes. What we need to do is to find out which path is most likely under the existing conditions, and leave it to future generations to judge whether this path is right or wrong. ”

Edward Witten laughed, raised his teacup and said, "Pang, you're right, let's toast to those scientific elites who are on the wrong path and drowned in the long river of history!" ”

"Cheers!"