The interview was scheduled for a week later.

For a period of time, Lu Zhou has basically been busy with miniaturization projects for controlled fusion.

In order to increase the temperature peak of the bubbles in the working liquid, Lu Zhou and several old professors from the Institute of Acoustics also tried to improve the ultrasonic generator, by removing the acoustic levitation stabilization device on the generator, increasing the energy of the load in the ultrasonic wave, and increasing the maximum sound pressure acting on the bubbles from 15 times the atmospheric pressure to 30 times.

Of course, this does not come without a cost.

Without the acoustic suspension stabilizer, the bubbles in the solution cannot float stably in the center of the container.

However, sonoluminescence does not require bubbles to float stably somewhere in the container, so this side effect does not matter.

After updating the experimental equipment, Lu Zhou immediately took Sheng Xianfu and them to repeat the experiment again, using xenon and deuterium-tritium mixtures, respectively, to observe the temperature of the bubbles and the key neutron recovery rate.

Handing the completed experiment report to Lu Zhou's hand, Sheng Xianfu said with a mixed expression on his face.

"The situation is still not optimistic, and the peak temperature in an instant can reach about 10 million Kelvin at the maximum, but the minimum is only about 500,000 Kelvin."

Looking at the experiment report in his hand, Lu Zhou frowned.

"Is the deviation so big?"

Sheng Xianfu nodded solemnly: "The temperature change observed through blackbody radiation is quite unstable, and I don't know if there is a problem with our observation methods or something else." ”

If it is possible to achieve a high temperature of 10 million Kelvin for each bubble collapse, it is still possible to make the fusion reaction occur stably by pulse ignition, taking into account factors such as volume shrinkage. however

Lu Zhou continued to ask, "What about the neutron proliferation rate?" ”

Sheng Xianfu hesitated for a moment: "There has been an improvement...... But it's still far from stable and controlled fusion. ”

Lu Zhou pondered for a while and asked, "How is the new experimental container prepared?" ”

Sheng Xianfu: "The nuclear industry group has completed it, and it will probably be delivered tomorrow." ”

Hearing this, the expression on Lu Zhou's face finally soothed a little.

Placing the test report on the table, he commanded.

"That's all for today's experiments, check the equipment tomorrow. The day after tomorrow, directly on the liquid lithium. ”

Sheng Xianfu nodded with a serious expression.

"Yes!"

As Lu Zhou predicted through calculations, when using the lighter density liquid lithium as the working liquid, its performance in sonoluminescence does outperform concentrated sulfuric acid and aqueous solutions. In particular, when the deuterium-tritium mixture is introduced, the sound pressure acting on the surface of the bubble increases significantly, reaching a maximum of 31.7 times the atmospheric pressure.

However, the liquid lithium, which works in an environment of 700 degrees Celsius, is still too lively after all, and the experiment is several times more dangerous than when concentrated sulfuric acid was originally used.

In particular, in the third experiment, the operator accidentally mixed a trace amount of oxygen when electrolyzing heavy water and super-heavy water to prepare deuterium-tritium mixed gas, resulting in a string of flames suddenly bursting in the container at the moment of gas introduction.

Fortunately, the dose of oxygen mixed in was not large, and several researchers in the laboratory reacted in time, so they rescued the laboratory without danger. If it really melts through the working container, causing the high-temperature liquid lithium in the container to directly contact the air, let alone a laboratory, it is afraid that it will blow up several load-bearing walls......

In short, since then, the entire Institute for Advanced Study has looked at Sheng Xianfu differently......

Time passed, and soon the day of the interview came.

In the office of the School of Mathematics of Jinling University, Lu Zhou met with CTV's interview team.

Coincidentally, the reporter in charge of interviewing him only met him a year ago.

"Hello, Professor Lu," with a professional smile on her face, He Ying, who was wearing a dark blue professional uniform, stretched out her right hand and shook it gently with Lu Zhou, and said in a nice voice, "We meet again." ”

Letting go of her hand, Lu Zhou smiled and nodded.

"Long time no see, Miss He...... Where do we start? ”

He Ying smiled and nodded, "Let's start now." ”

Knowing that Lu Zhou was usually very busy with research, she didn't waste time on greetings, and quickly brought the interview to the point.

After sitting down on the sofa, He Ying adjusted her sitting posture and motioned to the photographer next to her to prepare to start, and then continued to change her professional smile, looked at Lu Zhou and said, "It's an honor to get this opportunity to interview you, before the interview starts, I would like to ask you a few questions on behalf of the audience in front of the TV." ”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Just ask, as long as I know and can say it, I must know everything." ”

He Ying curled the corners of her mouth and said, "Don't worry, it's not a difficult question." ”

As she spoke, she paused and continued: "We all know that the problem of the mass gap of the Young Mills equation has been solved, and the unification of strong interaction and electromagnetic interaction will completely change the face of the discipline in the field of physics in the future. For most people, however, this abstraction can only be confusing. How do you see the future of physics? ”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Is it such a difficult problem when you come up?" ”

He Ying pursed her lips and smiled, "It's difficult for others, but it shouldn't be difficult for you, right?" ”

"From the perspective of a scholar, about the future of theoretical physics...... I really don't know how to answer that, because no one knows if there will be a new physics tomorrow. Speaking of this, Lu Zhou thought for a while and continued, "From the perspective of long-term goals, what theoretical physicists have been seeking all their lives is naturally the Great Unified Theory. Now that the strong interaction and electromagnetism have succeeded in creating bridges, the rest is gravity. Of course, we don't know much about gravity. Maybe after a century, we can only scratch the surface. ”

He Ying asked with a serious expression: "Isn't there a conclusive conclusion about the cause of gravity?" ”

Lu Zhou: "Of course, gravity is probably the most mysterious field of physics, and although we may feel it more intuitively than the other three fundamental forces, we know the least about it. Even though string theory and circular quantum gravitational theory explain its origin in two diametrically opposed ways, no one can say for sure which of them is correct. ”

He Ying continued: "What about a more realistic goal?" ”

Leaning on the sofa, Lu Zhou thought for a while and said: "A more realistic, or short- and medium-term goal, is naturally the verification and exploration of the standard model. While the Standard Model is great enough, through theoretical research and some experimentation, we can always discover something that exists outside of the Standard Model. ”

Speaking of this, Lu Zhou paused for a moment and said in a joking tone: "For example, M particles." Although I don't know what it looks like, I was able to prove that it did exist mathematically. If someone can find it, we'll be able to add a new piece of the puzzle to the standard model building. ”

Ying He: "That sounds exciting. ”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Of course, the exploration of the unknown is an exciting thing in itself. ”

Ying He: "Having said that, theoretical physics is still quite a distant existence for most of us. Can you explain to us what kind of visible impact the study of theoretical physics can have on our society and our civilization? ”

Lu Zhou thought about this question for a long time.

Just when He Ying began to wonder if she had asked some inconvenient questions and was about to ask the photographer to cut out this paragraph, Lu Zhou suddenly spoke.

"This is a very abstract proposition, and it is difficult for me to tell you what a certain theoretical physical discovery can produce that ordinary people can see. It's like the Higgs particle, and gravitational waves, and all the things that we've discovered or gotten from this universe over the years, most of them are useless to the average person. ”

"Even if we stand on the basis of the unified theory of strong electricity and the unified theory of weak electricity, and we further unify the four fundamental forces, this universe will not change anything because of us. Perhaps using the funds to explore theoretical physics to improve our lives can indeed fill the stomachs of more people in a certain period of time and make our lives better. ”

Speaking of this, Lu Zhou paused for a moment and continued in a serious tone.

"However, if no one does the things that are considered useless, we will have no future to speak of."