Chapter 512: New bait on the fishhook

Auditorium.

Regarding the old man's question, Xu Qingzhou smiled faintly and said: "It cannot be denied that in the long river of human history and civilization, every brick and stone that builds the mathematical building needs to undergo strict screening. However, before that, we also need the bricks and stones that can be provided for our screening."

"For example, when Wiles proved Fermat's Last Theorem, he borrowed non-mainstream tools such as Iwasawa theory and elliptic curves, and Perelman's geometrization conjecture even discarded traditional differential geometry methods and introduced a brand-new Ricci flow analysis."

"My meaning is, we need to try."

Regarding the old man's questioning, Xu Qingzhou was not surprised. Subversive research would almost inevitably be questioned by traditional schools, but this kind of questioning was not a denial of Xu Qingzhou's existing achievements; in essence, it should be a challenge to the academic paradigm.

Even now, the questioning could still be considered mild.

After all, once this succeeds, it will have a subversive change to analytic number theory.

Offstage, scholars from all over the world had different expressions: excited, thoughtful, solemn, complex...

The old man frowned, still feeling that Xu Qingzhou was a bit whimsical, left a sentence "Wish you success," and sat down.

No one asked questions next, and the time was just right. Xu Qingzhou bowed slightly to express his gratitude to everyone, stepped down, and returned to his seat.

The invited report ended, and the next was the group report.

Tao Zhexuan came over for the first time, "Xu, how much certainty do you have about the supersymmetric Z-function and the dynamic gap sieve method you mentioned last?"

"I thought of it accidentally when I was doing this report, and haven't researched it deeply yet." Xu Qingzhou spread his hands and answered truthfully.

"I have been thinking about this problem all the time... this is our current idea... rewriting the supersymmetric generator (Q) in quantum field theory as a differential operator on the complex plane."

Tao Zhexuan was worthy of being learned in all schools. After pondering for a moment, he found the problem, "But you at least need to first construct a Hilbert space to make (Q) a closed operator; otherwise, the supersymmetric algebra cannot be self-consistent."

"Yes." Xu Qingzhou said noncommittally, sighed and said: "You know, subverting analytic number theory is not simpler than proving the Riemann Hypothesis, I..."

A young man walked over excitedly, "Professor Xu, I'm very sorry to disturb your conversation with Mr. Terry, but I think it's necessary to say, I believe in your intuition!"

"Thank you."

Xu Qingzhou responded with a smile.

The young man scanned the old man in the distance and said angrily: "These people are like a group of Victorian gentlemen wearing wool vests and walking elegantly in the digital jungle—provided you don't tell them that the subway has long been opened in the jungle. And, they firmly believe that all mathematical truths should be like grandmother's cherry pie secret recipe, slowly stewed in a 19th-century copper pot!"

"I like your metaphor very much." Xu Qingzhou said sincerely.

"Will you engage in research in this area?"

The young man asked expectantly.

Xu Qingzhou could only say: "I'm very sorry, you know, I have more important things to do now, such as the physics experiment currently in progress."

"Damn physics!"

Seeing Xu Qingzhou finish dealing with a few scholars who came up to talk, Tao Zhexuan smiled and said: "I think we need to find a quiet environment to continue talking about your subversion plan."

"Let's go, I know a good coffee shop at MIT."

Xu Qingzhou also wanted to slip away early. Next was the group report, and they were not the main speakers, so they could be lazy.

"Okay, let's go."

In the coffee shop.

The middle-aged and young man sat face to face.

Xu Qingzhou handed the research results of these days to Tao Zhexuan and said in a deep voice: "The first step is still to construct a suitable Hilbert space to make the closedness and adjointness of (Q) satisfy mathematical specifications."

"Xu, your train of thought is quite good."

Tao Zhexuan's eyes were full of appreciation. According to this, there is really a possibility of making it.

It's just not simpler than proving the Riemann Hypothesis.

"The computational difficulty is very great. As far as the current situation is concerned, even for the first (10^{12}) prime numbers, the computing power required for the simulation of the quantum sieve method far exceeds the current supercomputing capability."

"That's right."

Xu Qingzhou nodded and said helplessly: "And, error control is also a big problem. No matter how you look at it now, this sieve method may be crushed by the deterministic results of traditional number theory tools..."

The two chatted in the coffee shop for two hours. Finally, because Tao Zhexuan had things to do with friends, they had to terminate early and agreed to talk next time, separating at the door of the coffee shop.

Although they didn't spend much time together, Xu Qingzhou admired this senior in the mathematical community from the bottom of his heart. His own strength was not bad, but he always remained humble.

Humble, gentle, and elegant.

No wonder quite a few top mathematicians praised his strong cooperation ability, as he was a great listener, good at learning from others, and also good at explaining his own ideas to others, which could form the most powerful mathematics department in the world.

Two days passed.

Just as Xu Qingzhou expected, his remarks on the report really caused a small shock in the mathematical community.

There were those who attacked him, thinking that Xu Qingzhou was using his influence to gain attention, and there were also mathematicians who thought that analytic number theory had ushered in new opportunities.

This made the mathematical community rarely lively.

Albert Stone, a successor of the Hardy school, firmly believed that analytic number theory should be "drunk pure like whiskey" and opposed any physical impurities. Upon learning the news, he wrote directly on Twitter: "This is the colonization of mathematics by pseudo-physicists, using high-dimensional gimmicks to cover up essential problems!"

Although he didn't name names, everyone knew who he was talking about in the first place.

Or it was Charles Holloway, a professor of history of mathematics at Oxford University, who viewed all these subversive theories as academic hooliganism.

He publicly mocked in his personal classroom: "This young man from the Xia Nation has once again issued a bad check to the mathematical community, although the previous check was accidentally cashed."

Of course, there were many supporters.

For example, Tao Zhexuan, this well-known Chinese-American mathematician: "To me, mathematics is a huge project. It is impossible to fight alone. So when I do research, I must cooperate with other friends and mathematicians. But Xu Qingzhou is different. He has the smartest brain in the mathematical community."

There was also Professor Maynard, who had met Xu Qingzhou a few times. Although he couldn't come because of his schedule, he watched Xu Qingzhou's report completely and publicly supported Xu Qingzhou on Twitter.

"He is an incredible genius, and he may also be the best mathematician in the world right now. That's right, he is the Mozart of the mathematical community, and mathematics flows from his blood!"

Similarly, there were those who ate melons and watched the fun.

In their view, in 1859, Riemann gave a difficult problem to mathematicians all over the world, which was only solved more than 160 years later. And now, this solver has put new bait on the fishhook.

The internet was lively, but Xu Qingzhou was as stable as an old dog. He participated in the seminar, occasionally went to the laboratory to look at sample parameters, or did the tasks arranged by Song Yao.

He was very calm, but there were still many things.

Familiar teachers like Chu Jiangfeng and Gu Zhizhong all called curiously to ask about his situation.

Even in his mailbox, there were a bunch of emails every day.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 513 =====