Chapter 513: Unknown things are what make the blood boil

The Boston Number Theory Seminar was advancing in full swing, especially because of the supersymmetric Z-function proposed by Xu Qingzhou on the first day, which attracted the attention of a large number of mathematicians in the mathematical community.

Those mathematicians who didn't come asked friends who participated in the seminar to inquire about the news, wanting to confirm whether Xu Qingzhou had any new achievements.

This was also very normal.

It was like a lamp suddenly lighting up in a jungle shrouded in fog, illuminating a hidden path that had never been noticed. Explorers would be attracted by this path, and even if this path was very likely to lead to a dead end, there would still be people following one after another.

The ultimate romance of mathematics might be exactly that "unknown unknowns" are more blood-boiling than "known answers."

However, because Xu Qingzhou repeatedly stated publicly that he didn't have too many research results, and with the passage of time and the advancement of seminar topics, the popularity of the supersymmetric Z-function finally decreased.

During this period, he and Tao Zhexuan met many times to discuss the feasibility of the supersymmetric Z-function.

But unfortunately, the two Fields Medal winners were a bit helpless after racking their brains for two days and could only give up temporarily.

Its difficulty is comparable to Einstein using relativity to reconstruct spacetime and Turing using the Turing machine to define computation. To a certain extent, it needs to reshape the underlying logic of analytic number theory.

This will be an incomparably huge project.

Xu Qingzhou was not in a hurry and focused on the seminar itself.

December 3rd, in a conference room in Kyoto, Xia Nation, across the ocean.

The old man in the middle spoke first: "First, let Comrade Sun Xiaofeng, who went to the US for docking, report the situation of this trip to Boston."

"Okay, Minister Wang." Zhang Xiaohui nodded and said all of Xu Qingzhou's requirements and ideas, such as core demands, forming a materials laboratory, needing autonomous rights...

"Superconducting thin film and battery research..."

"Energy?"

"..."

After Zhang Xiaohui finished speaking, low discussions sounded in the conference room.

The old man looked at the man on the left: "President Mei, you speak first about Jingda's opinions."

"Fine, then I will represent Jingda and express an attitude." The man nodded with a smile and said in a deep voice: "After discussion at the meeting, Kyoto University will express support for all of Professor Xu's requirements."

Mei Jiayou, the vice president in charge of talent work.

For Jingda, let alone material physics, even if he came back to take a salary for nothing and did nothing, it would be fine.

After all, they are all their own people.

"The district government has no opinion, we welcome Professor Xu back." The person to the right of Mei Jiayou also spoke.

"I have a different opinion."

The man opposite Mei Jiayou shook his head, "I think this is messing around. Mathematics is the crown, and applied science is the hands and feet. Professor Xu could have become the Grothendieck of the Xia Nation, but now he wants to go and grab food from the engineers of CATL... This is like letting a writer write Android code—cross-border is not chaotic!"

Someone echoed: "Yes, the gap in the Fields Medal in basic mathematics in the Xia Nation is more urgent than the battery patent gap. Director Wang, in terms of batteries, we have already caught up. Within ten years, we can basically take the step of catching up to overtaking."

"That makes sense. We have countless scientists who can focus on battery research, but there is only one mathematician who has won the Fields Medal and the Wolf Prize."

Zhang Xiaohui spoke out: "Everyone can look at the materials at hand. Just for SMIC alone, the import of superconducting diaphragms last year cost 600 million US dollars, and the expenditure of major scientific research institutions and universities in this area has also reached 400 million US dollars."

The Xia Nation has been catching up in various fields these years. It cannot be denied that there has been a qualitative leap, but it also needs to be acknowledged that it has always been strangled by foreign countries in some technologies.

Top superconducting thin films have always been a pain point in the country. Due to US export controls, some materials need to be purchased through third parties at a premium of 30%-50%. For example, when purchasing MBE equipment from Canon Anelva in Japan, the other party will force the bundling of thin film materials, which accounts for 20%-30% of the total expenditure, an extremely terrifying sum of money.

This is under optimistic circumstances. Once the situation becomes more severe in the future, and the export conditions of the opposite side become more stringent or even an embargo in the 1990s, then quantum computing and nuclear fusion projects may be delayed by 3-5 years.

"Wanting to break through the technical barrier of foreign superconducting diaphragms cannot be accomplished overnight, not to mention Professor Xu doesn't have the childhood skills."

"We also have our own advantages, and we will catch up sooner or later."

"Moreover, Director Sun, everything you said is based on the premise that Professor Xu can really solve the battery problem."

Mei Jiayou looked at the man opposite and smiled: "So, how do you think it should be solved? Refuse Professor Xu's request and let him stay abroad? For such a mathematician, I think no country would refuse to provide research funding."

The other party was speechless, understanding that what Mei Jiayou said was the truth.

He dared to say that as long as he opened his mouth, the United States would be very willing to provide all funding. Let alone just a physics laboratory, if he wanted tens of millions directly, the other party might agree.

In this regard, Xu Qingzhou is in an absolute dominant position and has the right to choose.

Someone asked: "Then does Professor Xu have any ideas about quantum algorithm development, cryptography, etc.?"

"Currently no. Professor Xu said that he might involve these studies in the future, but what he wants to do most now is the content on material physics."

Sun Xiaofeng shook his head.

Seeing that the meeting had no results, Wang Tong, deputy minister of the Organization Department, waved his hand and said: "I already know everyone's opinions. Let's disperse the meeting first. I will report this matter to the higher-ups and then determine how to solve it."

Boston, MIT is as lively as ever.

In addition to the invited mathematicians, universities in Boston, Harvard, Boston University, etc., all have people coming to listen.

The quality of the seminar is of course also very high.

Including Xu Qingzhou, three Fields Medal winners came.

Tao Zhexuan made an invited report on Hilbert's fifth problem on the 4th, which is whether there is a universally applicable algorithm that can determine whether any given topological group is a compact group.

Although this big shot didn't solve it directly, he extracted the essence of the structural decomposition method of locally compact groups and applied this thing to combinatorial number theory, ergodic theory, and harmonic analysis.

In addition, the German mathematical master Gerd Faltings made a report on "Riemann's Theorem on Arithmetic Surfaces," exploring the geometric and topological properties of arithmetic surfaces.

Xu Qingzhou also circulated in various group reports, communicating experiences with everyone. Although busy, he was very motivated and could talk freely with the world's top number theorists, gaining a lot.

On December 5th, accompanied by the end of a grand cocktail party, the number theory seminar came to an end.

The next day, Xu Qingzhou sent the mathematicians from the Xia Nation to the plane. After running around for five or six days, he finally got some leisure, but he only rested for one morning and started the experiment and Song school beauty's model again.

At the same time, Zhang Xiaohui of the Organization Department called to say that they were still discussing his return arrangements.

Xu Qingzhou was not panicked. He repeated his conditions. His return to the country was certain, but while being kind to others, he also needed to take an unyielding attitude and strive for corresponding rights.

Since there is room for discussion, he cannot leave a tail for being tied up in the future.

He wants a pure research environment.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 514 =====