Chapter 1295 Send a Pair of Photons to the Past

Lu Zhou found himself on fire.

And it's very thorough.

Although this kind of thing happened not once or twice, but this time it was completely beyond his expectation. He thought that after the paper was thrown out, it would at most cause a sensation in the physics world, but he didn't expect that it would even be the headline of the "Washington Post".

Not only that.

Columbia TV also invited Professor Susskind of Stanford University to do a popular science interview program specifically for this news.

As one of the founders of string theory, this Professor Susskind can be said to be one of the elders in the field of theoretical physics. Although the study of the Z particle is not his specialty, the general theory of relativity and the curvature of space-time, his The research is still quite representative.

Facing the interviewer of Columbia Television, Professor Susskind, who was sitting in his laboratory, thought for a while, and pulled out a blank paper for drafting from his desk.

"Did you see the paper in my hand?"

Interviewer: "See... But Professor Susskind, is there anything special about it?"

"I assume it represents three-dimensional space. Point A is the earth, and point B is the Proxima Centauri star 4.22 light-years away from us. Now I connect them with a straight line..."

While speaking, Professor Susskind drew a line and two AB points on the white paper with a ballpoint pen.

Looking at the bewildered interviewer, he continued.

"Usually, when we go from the solar system to Proxima Centauri, that is, from A to B, even if we ignore all kinds of complicated orbital changes and move forward in a straight line straighter than the Golden Gate Bridge, we actually have a long way to go. Yes, because our universe is actually twisted, like this..."

As he spoke, the old professor crumpled up the white paper in his hand and stuffed it in front of the interviewer.

"See, this is what our universe really looks like. The white paper representing the 3-dimensional space is like a ball of paper, twisted in a higher-dimensional space because of the gravitational force that pervades the universe."

"You can see that A and B are actually very close, and the two pieces of paper may be pasted together, maybe even less than the distance of a fingernail... But this is viewed from a higher dimension than the three-dimensional space. "

"Because we are three-dimensional creatures, we cannot leave the paper, so the shortest distance we actually travel can only be the straight line drawn on the paper."

As he said that, the Susskind professor unfolded the ball of paper in his hand, pointed to the crumpled paper and the straight line printed on the paper, and continued.

"This straight line is the way the Falcon Rockets will travel."

"And if it is a warp drive, this path will not appear on paper at all, it will go directly in 4D or 5D... etc. In short, in a dimension higher than 3D."

"like this!"

After kneading the paper into a ball again, Susskind used the pen in his hand to roughly pierce the paper ball.

Looking up at the stunned interviewer, the white-haired old man smiled and continued.

"It's best if you can understand nature."

"If you really don't understand, you just understand that we may have found a way to cut corners."

"Through this method, it may only take half a day or half an hour to go to Mars in the future."

"If you still can't understand, I can't help it."

The show goes on.

But the second half has not much nutrition.

Lifting the remote control to turn off the TV, Lu Zhou, who was sitting on the sofa in the living room, gave his own evaluation of the program that evaluated his own research results.

"It's a very vivid interpretation, and the thinking is quite novel... There's nothing wrong with it."

The only problem is probably a little too optimistic.

Even if the Z particle has this magical property of being able to act as a bridge, it is still too difficult to use it to achieve warp speed travel... At least it is not like something that can be done in fifty years.

Of course, as a science popularization program, this Professor Susskind's speech is quite good.

Especially for those who lack spatial imagination, it is indeed a very convenient way to imagine the universe as a crumpled paper ball, and everyone is a black dot on the paper.

However, Director Li, who was sitting opposite Lu Zhou, seemed to have misunderstood his meaning.

I saw the old man clasping the armrests of the leather sofa with his hands, his beard was about to shake off with excitement, and his old face was flushed as if he might have a heart attack at any time.

"Is it true? It will only take half an hour to go from Earth to Mars in the future?"

Hearing this unreasonable speech, Lu Zhou sweated.

"...Half an hour is too exaggerated, and this is just a theory, do you understand the theory? Even for something as simple and easy to understand as the atomic bomb, it took more than 20 years from the mass-energy equation to Otto Hahn's uranium fission paper year."

Not to mention the Z particle, which is more difficult to exist stably than ordinary subatomic particles. A lot of applications of subatomic particles such as mesons, quarks, gluons, and photons have not been fully developed. Consider it now It is too early to know how to use Z particles to solve practical problems.

The progress of science takes time to settle, and only when the time is ripe, it may become a technology in the real sense.

Lu Zhou didn't know how long it would take for this day to come.

It's just an estimate based on experience, at least we have to wait until the next century, right?

While thinking this way, Lu Zhou's eyes kept staring at Director Li's fingers clasped tightly on the armrest of the sofa.

He wasn't very worried that the old man had a heart attack. This guy's psychological endurance was much stronger than he imagined. The only thing that worried Lu Zhou was that he broke his sofa.

He really likes the sofa.

Many world-famous or soon-to-be world-famous physicists and mathematicians have sat here and drank coffee with him.

Don't say anything about historical relics, at least have some commemorative significance.

Hearing that Lu Zhou denied the claim that he could reach Mars within half an hour, Director Li couldn't help showing a look of disappointment on his face. His elevated blood pressure gradually dropped back, and he murmured regretfully.

"That is to say...can't you just take a shortcut and go to Mars?"

Lu Zhou took a sip of coffee expressionlessly, and after thinking about it, he suddenly sighed and said.

"...It's not impossible to arrive."

In an instant, Director Li's blood pressure, which had dropped just now, rose again at a speed visible to the naked eye.

This tossing up and down didn't make him out of trouble.

The old man sat up straight, stared at Lu Zhou with almost fanatical eyes, and said sincerely.

"How to do?"

"Let's start by verifying the theory." Putting down the coffee cup in his hand, Lu Zhou looked at him seriously, and continued, "For example, first send a Z particle clock to the orbit of Mars."

Director Li immediately asked: "And then?"

"Then?"

Raising his eyebrows slightly, Lu Zhou smiled and leaned back on the sofa.

"Then let's send another pair of photons there."