Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Waiting in the hotel was boring and CERN did not have any more quality lectures after the nuclear research conference.
Lu Zhou was bored to death, so he ended up walking around Geneva. He took a few tourist photos and bought some stuff as well.
He then went back to his hotel and posted the photos on his news feed before he took a shower.
When he came out of the shower and was about to sleep, Shi Shang suddenly called him.
The first sentence was…
“Zhou, when are you coming back?”
Lu Zhou was still drying off his hair when he thought and said, “I’ll see. When the experiment results are released, I’ll come back. Tell me if you want anything else. I’m so bored, I’ll go shopping.”
Shi Shang replied, “Traveling for free? I’m jealous.”
Free traveling?
I guess that’s what I’m doing.
Lu Zhou remembered that he had not spent a single dollar from his own pocket on this trip.
Shi Shang, “Uh, when you come back to campus, just put the stuff on my table. Please don’t send it to my house. There’s no space there.”
Lu Zhou, “Sure, anything else?”
Shi Shang shook his head, “Nothing… Oh yeah, how come I haven’t seen you on Weibo the past few days?”
Lu Zhou said, “What do you mean? I just posted some photos on Weibo.”
Shi Shang, “No, I meant, I haven’t seen you humblebragging.”
Lu Zhou: “…”
F*ck, what do you mean you haven’t seen me humblebragging.
You sound as if I humblebragged all the time.
Lu Zhou hung up the call and threw his phone on the bed.
He looked at the calendar. When he saw that it was almost the end of the month, he sighed.
He did not know when the experiment would end.
Hopefully, he was correct.
If not, no one would blame him. However, he would not feel good about it.
…
Lu Zhou originally thought that it would take a month for the results to be seen and so, he was about to exchange more Euro.
He did not expect the good news to come so suddenly.
The first person that told him this news was Professor Grayer, who was responsible for monitoring ATLAS.
On the phone, Professor Grayer did not say much. He only told Lu Zhou to go to his office.
The first thing Lu Zhou said as he stepped foot into the office was…
“What’s the result?”
“Your speculation is correct,” said Professor Grayer. He placed a few sheets of papers on the table and said with an unbelievable sentimental tone, “The results are quite optimistic. We have observed the characteristic peaks that you predicted on CMS and ATLAS. Many people are surprised by this result.”
Lu Zhou was relieved as the knot in his heart was finally loosened.
Although the dust had not settled yet, the exploration had only just begun. Lu Zhou’s work had finally come to an end.
Professor Grayer looked at Lu Zhou and said, “Although we can’t determine what it is, we are sure that there’s something there.”
Lu Zhou took the sheets of papers and casually said, “I hope you guys can find that thing… Please tell me if you guys find something.”
Professor Grayer asked, “You’re going back?”
“Yes,” said Lu Zhou as he nodded and smiled. He added, “I already got the results that I want. Also… My hotel booking is up.”
Even though Lu Zhou really wanted to know what the signal was, he could not wait here forever. It could take years.
Also, if he guessed correctly, his system mission should have been completed by this point.
He planned to return to China, received the mission rewards, and see what his new missions were.
“Before you leave, can you do me a small favor? It won’t take long, just three days,” asked Professor Grayer. He then said, “I can pay for the hotel room.”
Lu Zhou asked, “What favor?”
“It’s an interview with Nature Weekly,” said Professor Grayer. With a smile, he added, “I have a friend that works there as an editor. He’s not an expert in physics, but he knows a lot about particle physics. He was even more surprised than me when he heard about your discovery. He wants to interview you. He flies here on the 2nd of August… So, can you stay here for two more days?”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Of course I can.”
Although he did not like to do media interviews, he was still willing to do any favor for Professor Grayer.
After all, this professor took good care of him. Professor Grayer was the reason he could present his 750 GeV clue.
Plus, this favor was not too much of a trouble.
…
After the nuclear research conference in July, CERN could not wait to announce the discovery of the pentaquark Pc+. Which, as many expected, became the world’s most eye-catching physics news.
Of course, there was some unexpected news as well.
For example, the characteristic peak that appeared at 750 GeV…
Yes, “appeared”.
From Lu Zhou’s predictions in the report, CERN adjusted the collision test and made the collision energy 1 TeV.
Then the final results were quite amazing.
When the number of samples accumulated to a certain extent, the probability of the characteristic peak at 750 GeV increased exponentially. This could not be explained by our current knowledge of quantum chromodynamics.
Some people speculated that this was a decay signal, or it was a two-photon signal generated by gluon polymerization. Some also speculated that it was the last piece of the standard model puzzle that the physics community had been looking for for years: The Super Symmetric Particle.
Of course, some people were also pessimistic and said that it could just be quantum fluctuations. Even though CERN researchers observed this phenomenon on both ATLAS and CMS detectors.
In less than a month, hundreds of thesis attempting to explain the characteristic peak were submitted. This doubled the number of particle physics theses submissions.
Many well-known physicists made bold speculations on this characteristic peak.
They had to as these theoretical physicists loved to make predictions.
High-energy physics was unlike condensed matter physics. People’s observations could not keep up with the speed of theoretical progress. The standard model could not be seen, but it was well accepted.
People could not just write bullsh*t physics theses and they could not make up physics.
However, this 750 GeV characteristic peak gave people an opportunity to write bullsh*t theses. Not to mention, there was a potential Nobel Prize attached to it.
What if they could bullsh*t their way into a Nobel Prize?
It was possible.
After all, even the collider did not know what the 750 GeV signal meant…
However, the focus on the media and the public was elsewhere.
For the laymen watching from outside, this was even more surprising than the pentaquark discovery.
This was because the person that reported the finding…
Was an intern!