The top student must be diligent.

Chapter 165 CERN's Attention

With the end of the lecture, speculation about the W boson's overmass spread directly throughout the Institute of High Energy Physics.

All of a sudden, those assistant researchers, intern researchers, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who did not attend the report meeting felt regretful.

How come you secretly revealed such an important discovery at the report meeting?

Wasn’t it agreed that this report would only talk about data processing and error analysis?
They just felt that this report was about mathematical methods and they couldn't understand it, so they didn't come. Anyway, their Director Tang just emphasized that researchers and associate researchers must be present.

For a moment, they were in tears.

However, for those who attended the report, in addition to being amazed at the importance of Xiao Yi's conclusion, they also began to realize how great the impact of this new error processing method proposed by Xiao Yi is.

It can be said that the entire achievement comes from this error handling method.

As a result, those researchers who originally had some complaints about having to attend the report meeting now only have gratitude towards their Director Tang.

If they had not attended this lecture, they would not have become the first scholars to learn about this method.

Of course, the normal report was also recorded on video and has been circulated within the institute.

For example, Tang Yifang also required everyone to read it, including those who did not attend the lecture.

Xiao Yi's error handling method is almost going to become a learning goal that their research institutes must master.

After all, since this new data processing method can discover the problem of the W boson's overweight, maybe it can help them discover something equally important on some important topics in the future?
For high-energy physics, precision is extremely important.

As a result, the entire Institute of High Energy Physics launched a "youth learning campaign", or rather, a learning campaign for the old, middle-aged and young people. From senior researchers to graduate students who had just entered the institute, everyone began to learn this set of methods.

Of course, this also applies to the CERN research team who came to the Institute of High Energy Physics for exchanges and learning. The original exchange and learning has turned into a new method of exchange and learning.

Because of how serious they attached to this matter, they even decided to stay at the Institute of High Energy Physics for a few more days.

Of course, they were also waiting for Xiao Yi's paper to be published.

For example, George Parisi is now ready to contact CERN to provide recent relevant data after Xiao Yi's paper is published.
Just like that, time passed quickly, and a few days later.

……

Physical Review Letters editorial office, inside the editor-in-chief's office.

“This paper…”

PRL's editor-in-chief, Professor Robert Gristow, was looking at a new submission on his computer at this time, feeling a little puzzled.

This is a paper involving high-energy physics, titled "A new error analysis and data processing method and 2000 sets of experimental data show that the W boson mass is about 0.1% overweight."

If you only look at the first half of this question, it’s not a big deal, and it’s even impossible to get to it directly. But if you add the second half, it becomes different.

At first glance, this result might seem a bit outrageous. What does it mean that the W boson is about 0.1% more massive?
This means the mass of about 157 electrons!

This will shake the foundation of all physics!
The standard model may be broken as a result.

If it were an ordinary author, according to their PRL rules, it would probably be rejected directly.

But now, the author of this paper made him unsure.

Xiao Yi.

This genius in mathematics recently worked out the absolute electronic calculation, which caused quite a stir in the materials science and physics communities.

Another editor-in-chief of PRL, Warner, even called the other party to invite him to submit an article.

Who would have thought that the other party was too lazy to condense the paper to less than 8 pages and instead submitted it to JACS.

Of course, they will not hold a grudge against each other because of this matter. After all, these big authors are like this. The journals are only responsible for accepting the papers, reviewing them and determining their value, while the authors have a lot to consider.

But he still didn't know what to say about this paper.
Do you want to accept it?

Sitting next to him were two other associate editors of PRL in charge of high-energy physics, Professor Greg Landsberg and Professor Daniel Carbetter.

Finally he asked, "So, what do you think?"

"Hmm..." Greg Landesberg pondered for a long time and finally gave an answer: "It's hard to say."

Gristol rolled his eyes. You kept saying this for a long time, and I thought there would be some profound ideas, but in the end, this is it?
You are just talking nonsense here.

Carbett next to him said, "Perhaps... 2000 sets of data are a little too little?"

"It's indeed a little too little." Gristol thought so too. "There should be at least 1 sets, right?"

For such an important conclusion, 2000 sets of experimental data are far from enough.

But Landesberg stopped talking nonsense at this time: "If there really were 1 groups, do you think he would submit them to us instead of Nature or Science?"

"Uh……"

Gristol and Carbett looked at each other and it seemed to be true.

The other party might submit their manuscript to them just because the specifications of their PRL are not as high as those of the two top journals.

After thinking for a long time, Gristol finally made a decision: "Okay, 2000 sets of data are enough to make the physics community doubt this. Let's not ask for so much."

"It's better to accept it as soon as possible and put it directly in the queue for next week's issue."

He sighed: "The physics community has been quiet for too long. It's time for some excitement."

……

And so, time came to the second week.

As the new issue of PRL was officially published, when its readers got this issue of the journal, they saw a big equation on the cover, but there was a question mark in it.

【W±=? GeV/c^2】

GeV/c^2 is the official unit of mass in high-energy physics, following the mass-energy equation, E=mc^2, so m is equal to E/c^2.

This cover is very interesting and has aroused the curiosity of many readers.

W± should mean W boson. Then, hasn’t there been a conclusion about the mass of W boson long ago?

The standard model calculates 80379MeV/c^2, and most experimental conclusions have proven that it is basically within this range. Even if there are errors, they are all within the range of error fluctuations.

Why is such a question asked on the cover now?
For journals like this, the cover usually represents what the editor considers to be the most important paper results in this issue.

So, PRL readers opened the journal, found the paper on the cover, and started reading it.

First of all, the title of this paper gave them great surprise: The W boson is 0.1% heavier?

What a joke!
Could it be that the Standard Model is wrong?

Well, it is not accurate to say that the Standard Model is wrong, but it is a recognized fact in the physics community that the Standard Model is incomplete, or even bad.

Today's standard model is based on all known theories or experiences in the current physics community, but it still lacks explanations for many things. First of all, regarding gravity, this part is completely absent in the standard model. At the same time, the standard model still cannot explain many things such as dark matter and dark energy.

Therefore, the Standard Model can only be considered a half-baked theory.

But despite this, the Standard Model's prediction of the mass of the W boson was still a recognized fact before.

Now, this paper questions this.

Especially the journal in which this paper was published is PRL!

The authority of PRL is naturally self-evident.

For a moment, all the readers' hearts began to beat fast.

……

CERN, headquarters in Geneva.

In a research room, a cry of surprise was heard: "Hou Li Xie Te! Is this true?"

When you walk in, you can see an old man with a surprised look on his face.

This old man is called Frank Wilczek, a theoretical physicist and mathematician.

In 2004, because the asymptotic freedom proposed by him and two other physicists provided great help to the physics community in understanding the strong interaction, they were awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics.

It can be said that this is the top boss in the physics world.

At this moment, he was holding the latest issue of PRL journal in his hand, looking at the paper on the cover, and exclaimed.

Next to him, there were several top physicists working at CERN, each holding a PRL with a surprised expression on their face.

The paper was only 7 pages long, but the information it contained shocked them all.

“Is the mass of the W boson… really too heavy?”

"I'm not sure... The most important question is, is his data processing method reasonable?"

Regarding this question, everyone looked to Frank Wilczek. Although Wilczek's mathematics did not reach the level of Edward Witten's Fields Medal, he was still well-known in their physics community. After all, he derived asymptotic freedom on white paper with pen and paper.

Frank Wilczek pondered for a moment, and finally said, "Well... I can't find any problem with this. The method used here is perfect."

"Especially the error matrix, which provides a very thorough analysis of various errors and clearly classifies different errors."

"Then, he used a singular value decomposition method to decompose the error matrix, thereby separating the complex error sources into single components, identifying each error, its contribution to the final value, and quantifying their impact."

"We all know that quantization error is a very important thing."

“Finally, there’s the error propagation formula he used at the end.”

At this point, Wilczek exclaimed: "He is indeed a mathematical genius who can prove the twin prime conjecture. His new error propagation formula perfectly combines the advantages of his previous methods, making the final result reach an even more unimaginable level of accuracy."

"I believe that if we had used this whole set of methods to search for the Higgs boson, we might have discovered more Higgs boson signal data."

Hearing what Wilczek said, the other professors looked at each other in confusion.

That being the case, there seems to be no need to question the methodology of this paper.

"But isn't 2000 sets of data a little too little?"

Professor Liam Hodgkinson said.

"It is indeed a little small." Wilczek smiled, "But this is not a big problem. For this result, 2000 sets of data are enough to explain something. Moreover, these 2000 sets of data are from China's BEPC. The level of advancement of BEPC is still far behind that of LHC. For example, the error degree of the data directly measured is very high."

Wilczek said: "The various sensors used by BEPC are probably not as good as those used by the LHC, including the resolution of the detectors, so if we can use the LHC data for calculations, I think the final result will be more accurate."

"In addition, the data volume should be at least 100 million to be more credible."

Everyone present nodded in approval.

"Then should we invite Xiao Yi over?" someone asked.

"It would be best if we could invite them," Wilczek said.

However, at this moment, someone suddenly said, "Well, Professor George Parisi is contacting me. He now hopes to participate in our discussion online."

"George?" Wilczek was stunned, and suddenly said, "Oh, I remember he went to China some time ago. Is he still there now?"

"Like he's still there?"

"Then he must have communicated with Xiao Yi." Wilczek said, "Then let him get online as soon as possible. I really want to hear the news from him."

"Yes, Professor Wilczek."

Soon, they turned on the big screen in the laboratory, and Professor George Parisi's face appeared on it.

"Hello, everyone." Parisi greeted with a smile.
"Hello, Professor Parisi." Wilczek and others also greeted him.
However, at this moment, they noticed that there were two other faces next to Parisi, one of whom was Tang Yifang. The CERN researchers present all knew him, after all, they had often cooperated and communicated with each other in the past.

The other young face made them hesitate for a moment before they finally recognized it.

"This is... Xiao Yi?"

Parisi laughed and said, "Yes, this is Xiao Yi, the discoverer of the W boson superheavy problem. I think you have read that paper."

"What was the outcome of your discussion?"

“We’re staying positive and thinking it’s worth a try,” Wilczek said.

George Parisi nodded and said, "Very good, this is why I am contacting you now. Next, let Director Tang talk to you."

Afterwards, he gave his position to Tang Yifang.

Tang Yifang expressed his request to obtain LHC collision data.

Wilczek paused for a moment and said, "That's fine. However, on behalf of CERN, I hope to join this research. We certainly don't want to be absent from such a heavyweight discovery."

Tang Yifang smiled and said, "Of course, this is very reasonable. Our Institute of High Energy Physics in China is also honored to be able to cooperate with CERN."

Wilczek immediately laughed and said, "Okay, that's settled then."

The two major high-energy physics research institutions have reached a cooperation to jointly study the problem of the overweight mass of the W boson.

Therefore, CERN sent the LHC collision data from recent period to the Institute of High Energy Physics of China, and then both parties jointly began to process the data of W boson signal.

Target data volume: 100 million!
Such large-scale cooperation is a very common thing in the study of high-energy physics.

Of course, there is a slight difference. In the past, other research institutions were rushing to cooperate with CERN, and CERN was basically in a dominant position. After all, CERN has the largest number of high-energy physicists and the most powerful particle accelerators in the world, and other research institutes can only look up to it.

But this time, the Chinese Institute of High Energy Physics and CERN are working together and are on an equal footing.

This is naturally because the method they used came from Xiao Yi, and Xiao Yi now represents the Institute of High Energy Physics of China.

The news spread quickly and spread throughout the physics community, causing an instant sensation.

After the latest issue of PRL came out, it sparked a discussion around the world. At that time, many scholars in the field of physics were discussing whether this matter was credible.

Now, CERN has come forward, and according to public information, this collaboration is led by Professor Wilczek. This undoubtedly shows that CERN attaches great importance to the speculation in this paper and is now ready to further verify this conclusion.

As a result, all physicists could no longer calm down.
On the international version of Quora, in the physics section, there was a new question that attracted nearly a thousand answers and discussions in just a few days.

[CERN and the Institute of High Energy Physics of China plan to cooperate to verify the problem of W boson being overweight. What does this mean? If the W boson is really overweight, what does it mean? ]

One of the most highly-praised answers came from a researcher working at CERN.

[A researcher currently working at CERN will come and answer this question.]

First of all, let me explain the cause of this incident. I believe everyone should know the cover paper published in PRL at the end of July, right? That genius from the mathematics world came to his loyal physics and directly used the statistical results of 2000 sets of data to give a result that shocked the physics world. That is, the mass of the W boson is suspected to exceed 0.1% of the standard model.

what does this mean?
I would like to quote here an interview with Professor Edward Witten.

Q: "Professor Witten, what is the status of the Standard Model in the physics community?"

A: "The status of the Standard Model is that I think for most physicists, it is something that is disliked but has to be used. It integrates all the experience of current physics - you know, physics is an empirical science, that is, a science that emphasizes the systematic study and understanding of phenomena and things through methods such as observation, experiment and data analysis.

Therefore, even the most mathematically rigorous theory is worthless if it cannot be verified by these three methods, just like string theory.

Of course, it is precisely because the standard model is such a collection of all experiences that it is completely normal for some discoveries beyond experience to appear in the future. Moreover, because our human experience is so small compared to the vast universe, I think there are still many such opportunities. "

Q: “If something like this is discovered, what would it mean for physics?”

A: "It means surprises, it means treasures that have never been excavated. To be honest, I am looking forward to that day. Maybe there will be a discovery that can help verify string theory?"

Professor Witten's answer has well illustrated the significance of the W boson superheavy to the physics community. It is a surprise, which means that there is still physics worth further exploring.

The current cooperation between CERN and the Institute of High Energy Physics in China does represent our recognition of the possibility that the W boson is superheavy. Our current goal is to verify this. According to our plan, we will verify at least 100 million sets of data. This is a major project and is expected to take six months to complete.
We can all look forward to the final result. If the final facts prove that the mass of the W boson is indeed overweight, then the physics community will probably be very excited. This implies new physical phenomena, or the Higgs mechanism needs to be corrected. At the same time, the self-energy effect needs to be considered. In short, each one is very important, and if it can be confirmed that there are new physical phenomena in the end, then it will be a revolution for the entire physics community!
That’s all I want to say.

Of course, in the end, I would like to mention the most realistic suggestion for us ordinary researchers. The discovery that the W boson is overweight is mainly due to the mathematical method used in Xiao Yi's paper. This is a brand-new set of error processing and data analysis methods, which is worthy of everyone's study and research. It is now called Xiao's error analysis theory.

This theory is very helpful for the analysis of any particle accelerator, and it may even be used in medical cyclotrons. I don’t know the specific application methods, but it can be used to accurately diagnose patient diseases, or accurately treat malignant tumors, greatly reducing damage to surrounding healthy tissues, etc.

above.】

This answer has already received tens of thousands of likes and quite a few replies.

[Another day when the edifice of physics is not built (sad)]

[The gold content of the standard model is still decreasing! 】

[Are you at CERN researching time travel? Are you related to John Titor? Are you secretly researching how to create micro black holes to destroy the Earth?]

[Please, this is CERN, not SERN.]

[Does this mean that applying for high-energy physics in the next few years would be a good choice? If we can find some magical results from this. ]

[Come on, kid, maybe you will discover a new particle named after you! ]

[I will study Xiao Yi's paper now! ]

……

Amid the heated discussions, people generally expressed their eager anticipation for this matter.

But the only problem is that it will take another six months.

However, for the vast majority of high-energy physicists, six months is only a small matter. Now they are more concerned about Xiao Yi's paper.

Xiao's error analysis theory has become the target that physicists are eager to learn during this period.

After all, now whether it is CERN, other organizations with particle accelerators, or medical companies that develop medical cyclotrons, they all offer high salaries to hire experts in Xiao's error analysis theory.

This is the chance to gain wealth and glory!
And time slowly passed amid the enthusiasm of the physics community.

……

(End of this chapter)