Princeton, New Jersey, in a quiet home.

A bald old white man said loudly without looking back, stuffing clothes into his suitcase.

"I don't have time, please go find someone else! Now, my teacher is lying in a hospital bed, and maybe this will be the last time I will see him! At least this month, I don't want to see anything math to do with it. ”

The middle-aged man in the suit had an embarrassed smile on his face, but he didn't have a temper at all.

After all, standing in front of him was the famous Viscount Pierre de Ligné, the probe of the Wey conjecture, the Fields Medal, the Cafford Medal, the Wolf Medal, and last year's Abel Prize, the trophy that the mathematical community could give him, basically won all the trophies that he could give.

Even in the edifice of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, which houses the world's mathematical geniuses, it cannot hide his shine.

Davis, on the other hand, is just an ordinary editor of the Mathematical Chronicle, a graduate of Johns Hopkins University's journalism department, and he only studied mathematics.

Although "The Mathematical Chronicle" is the son of Princeton University, after all, he follows the "stepmother" of Johns Hopkins University. In addition, the "Annals of Mathematics", which Princeton is now in charge of, has the status of the four kings in the field of mathematical journals, and the resources leaning towards the "Mathematical Chronicle" are naturally becoming less and less.

In order to maintain the influence of the Mathematical Chronicle in the academic world, the editors of the Johns Hopkins University Press journal department are also heartbroken.

Originally, if it was an ordinary number theory paper, it was not worth Davis's attention. However, it just so happened that the technical editor also had some research on number theory, and when he conducted a preliminary review of the submitted manuscript, he immediately discovered that the value of this paper was extraordinary.

There are countless conjectures about the distribution of Mersenne primes, but none of them have been proven so far. Among them, the most mathematical beauty, to achieve the degree of accurate expression, is undoubtedly the famous Zhou conjecture.

That is, when 2^(2^n)

However, conjecture is conjecture after all.

If these conjectures are not proved for a day, then it will always be the prince.

When is it proved, it can be upgraded to a theorem and crowned to the throne!

Seeing that Deligne was indifferent, Davis did not give up and continued to persuade: "Please, Viscount Deligne, in the field of number theory, your research is the most outstanding of any professor I have ever seen!" When I saw this paper, I immediately thought of you. For the sake of our cooperation for so many years, can you just take a look? ”

"These sycophants are useless to me," Delgne sneered coldly as he snapped the suitcase shut, "I know it all without you needing to say it." ”

He wasn't usually that grumpy, at most a little arrogant, like the other geniuses at the Princeton Institute. If it was a normal day, Davis personally brought an interesting paper to him, and he would have to find time to study it.

However, in interesting things, it also depends on the occasion.

His mentor, Mr. Grothendieck, was now lying in his hospital bed, and could die at any moment.

Where did he still have the heart to study any math problems? I can't wait to fly to France now.

Not to mention the volunteer work of academic editors, even the research projects of the research institute, he turned them down.

Davis tried to persuade: "Don't you want to bring a gift to Mr. Grothendieck?" ”

"Gifts?" Deligne said menacingly, "Take a pile of waste paper? It's better for me to buy bouquets of flowers on the street when I get to France! ”

"I assure you, this paper is definitely not as bad as you think." Davis said in a sincere tone, "Isn't proving the Riemann conjecture exactly what your teacher has been wishing for all his life?" The problem of the distribution of Mersenne primes has been solved, and we are one step closer to the crown of mathematics...... Even if it's just a small step! I still remember what you said in your academic presentation last year, that the road to the end of the Riemann Zeta function is dark and requires countless candles to illuminate it...... Now, the match is in your hand. ”

Staring into Davis's eyes, Deligne was silent for a long time, scolding and snatching the manuscript from his hand.

"Fack!"

In the end, as a scholar, he still couldn't resist the curiosity in his heart.

"Proof of Zhou's guess?" Deligne's brow furrowed slightly.

A few years ago, he didn't even know how many copies of this kind of paper he had seen, and it has only recently become rare. People who think they are smart like to pick seemingly simple questions to start with, but they can't even find where the thorny road is.

If Zhou's conjecture is proven, it can indeed be helpful for the study of the Riemann conjecture, since the properties of the Riemann zeta function ζ(s) are closely related to the frequency of prime numbers, while the Riemann hypothesis discusses the case of equation ζ(s)=0.

See the name of the author of the paper.

Deligne was stunned.

Lu· Zhou？

Chinese? Or Chinese?

There were quite a few outstanding mathematicians in Asia, but he had never heard of the name......

I couldn't help but feel a little contemptuous in my heart, but thinking that Davis shouldn't fool himself with that kind of thing that looks like parallel goods, Deligne still looked down patiently.

The wall clock on the wall ticks and ticks.

One minute......

Five minutes......

Ten minutes......

Deligne maintained his original posture, staring at the first page of the paper with a frown, not even intending to turn the page.

Seeing Professor Deligne like this, Davis controlled the rhythm of his breathing, trying not to make a sound that disturbed his thoughts.

The more he looked down, the more serious Deligne's expression became.

About another five minutes passed.

Leaning the handle of the suitcase against the wall, he returned to the study with the A4 paper without saying a word, and closed the door with a flick of his hand.

Davis breathed a sigh of relief, and then moved his stiff shoulders and sat casually on the sofa in the living room.

From so many years of experience, the importance that Professor Deligne attaches to a particular paper is directly related to the strength with which he closes the office door.

If you go to the shredder, there is no need to close the door to the study.

Sitting in his study, Deligne took out the scratch paper from the drawer and began the process of verifying the paper manuscript of the paper.

The author's arguments are clear, logically rigorous, and the methods used are so ingenious that he can't fault them at all.

I can't even find anything that can be improved.

And it was here that he was surprised, except for the somewhat broken English and the slightly flawed arguments that read, and from the process of argumentation alone, it was not at all clear that the writer was a novice.

It's so smooth.

It's incredibly smooth.

He prefers to believe that in the process of this five-page argument, there is a trap that can be easily overlooked at a glance!

Can you hide it from his eyes?

Interesting.

An hour passed.

After a long silence on the last line of the equation, Deligne put down the printed version of the paper and the scratch paper written next to it, sighed, and gently spat out a word in French.

"Awesome."

If an hour ago, he was still suspicious.

By now, he was almost certain that there was really nothing wrong with the five-page argument.

He couldn't think of any other compliments than being awesome.

If possible, he would love to meet the author of the paper. However, there are few opportunities in the near future, and after returning from a sabbatical sabbatical in France, he will soon be involved in a new project at the Princeton Institute, and the next few months will be very busy.

Perhaps, this paper can really arouse the teacher's interest?

Although he knew that this was unlikely, his teacher had not studied mathematics for many years.

Davis, who was pacing back and forth in the living room, finally turned his attention to the bathtub next to the cabinet in the entryway, flicking the glass of the fish tank with his fingers boredly, teasing the goldfish inside to pass the time.

At this time, the door of the study was suddenly pushed open, and Drigne, who was holding the paper manuscript of the paper, walked out.

Seeing this, Davis hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "How?" ”

Tucking the manuscript into his suitcase, Deligne said without looking up.

"I need a little time, and I'll get back to you in a week at the latest."

Hearing this, Davis held his breath for a moment, and his heart was excited.

After working together for so many years, he really knows this professor too well.

A paper, if he hadn't stuffed it directly into the shredder, already showed that he couldn't find a major fault with the paper. If he hadn't thrown this paper into his own hands, it would be enough to show that the content of this paper was enough to get his attention!

A week is nothing.

It is impossible for any serious academic editor to pass a paper hastily. It is necessary to repeatedly scrutinize and calculate for a long time, which is not only the rigor that a mathematician should have, but also the minimum respect for his field of study as a scholar!

A world-class math puzzle is about to be solved.

It is undoubtedly a huge improvement for the academic value of the Mathematical Chronicle!

As for Davis himself......

And what better way to prove his performance as a technical editor than to pick a speck of gold out of a pile of sand?