Research starts with PhD students

Chapter 102 Thesis Defense, Zhang Shuo: Do ​​you understand? Three Academicians: This is genius!

director's office.

Tan Youming returned to the office and slowly made a cup of tea. He sat down leisurely, drank the tea and hummed a little tune. He was obviously in a good mood.

When he decided that Zhang Shuo would join the High Court as a researcher, he began to think about Zhang Shuo's graduation.

After defending your doctoral thesis, you can get your doctoral degree and then officially start working.

Now Zhang Shuo is on a temporary basis at the High Court, which is different from formal employment. Formal employment means becoming a researcher at the High Court and enjoying all the benefits of faculty and staff. After he leaves, he will also represent the High Court, and there will be no mention of another identity - a doctoral student.

If my identity as a doctoral student were to be made known to others, it would be somewhat embarrassing for the Institute for Advanced Study.

Zhang Shuo has achieved so many results, but he is still a doctoral student?
Many people have talked about this issue.

At this mathematics meeting, many old friends joked about Zhang Shuo still being a doctoral student, and half-jokingly said, "The graduation requirements for doctoral students at your Soochow University are really high. He has published three papers in the four major journals, but he still can't graduate."

"According to your requirements, not a single doctoral student in our university will be able to graduate!"

Tan Youming found it a little funny when he thought about it.

He took out his phone, found a group, and sent a message, "Zhang Shuo from our school will have a thesis defense tomorrow. Who is interested in being an external expert reviewer?"

"There is only one request: you must arrive before tomorrow afternoon!"

The group immediately became lively.

This group includes a lot of mathematics professors and academicians, who signed up enthusiastically as soon as they saw the news.

Tan Youming's requirements were a bit demanding, mainly in terms of time. Those who lived far away had to hurry over, but there were still many people who said they wanted to be judges. There was even an academician from the School of Mathematics at Capital University who signed up and said he would fly over overnight.

They all wanted to come and take advantage of the situation.

Zhang Shuo has completed so much research at the age of 25, so his future must be bright.

Being an expert reviewer in the defense group will make you proud when you tell others about it, and you can brag about it when you come back. What a great topic of conversation!
Tan Youming finally chose two academicians who were closer to him, one was Academician Du Sheng from Jinling University, and the other was Academician Qian Zhitong from Dongguan Jiaotong University.

Jinling and Donggang are not far from Sudong, and it takes more than two hours to drive there.

opposite.

Zhang Shuo felt that time was a bit tight as his thesis was not yet fully completed, especially the format still needed to be proofread. After all, it was a graduation thesis and needed to be archived.

He decided to communicate with the computing center about the time first and agreed to go there next Wednesday.

Monday, thesis defense.

On Wednesday, I went to the computing center to make the acceptance report.

time is tight.

The project acceptance team of the Computing Center is actually Cao Mengbo’s large-scale experimental deviation analysis algorithm team.

At the project meeting of the Physics Center, Director Wu Jianning confirmed that after the project was separated, the Computing Center would be much more relaxed. The project would be in their own hands and they would not need to be involved in other matters. They only needed to form a good team.

They have a cooperative project with Zhang Shuo, and all they have to do is complete the algorithm according to Zhang Shuo's plan.

The team formed by Cao Mengbo is not limited to the computing center.

The Computing Center and the Experimental Physics Center are two institutions, but in fact, the relationship between the two can be said to be inseparable. Many researchers belong to the Computing Center, but work in the basic experimental group, CP group, or teams of other physics centers.

At the same time, there are researchers from the Physics Center working in the Computing Center.

Every major research direction of the Institute of High Energy Physics requires basic experiments and data analysis. Data analysis is not just the job of the computing center. For example, the preliminary analysis of particle collision experiments also requires help from domestic university cooperation groups.

Those researches that belong exclusively to the computing center are generally pure algorithms, computing power and platform construction.

Whenever experiments are involved, the Experimental Physics Center is indispensable.

The two institutions are directly linked.

Therefore, the team formed by Cao Mengbo also included people from the Center for Physics. He invited Shi Qiuling, the academic group leader of the Center for Physics, Cheng Yaoxing, a director-level researcher who had worked in the CP group for a long time, and Liu Ye and Liao Zhenyu, researchers from the basic experiment group.

With the addition of four heavyweights, plus Bao Hexing, Cui Kevin and himself, the decision-making management team of the new project team was established.

On the other hand, Tan Zhiming also established a large-scale experimental deviation analysis algorithm project team.

Tan Zhiming wanted to invite Liao Zhenyu and Cheng Yaoxing to join, but embarrassingly they were both rejected. Later he learned that they had joined Cao Mengbo's project.

He gnashed his teeth in hatred and said to himself, "If you don't come to my project, you will regret it!"

"Cao Mengbo was so naive that he trusted a twenty-something stranger. Even if he was a genius at algorithms, so what? He was only one person!"

"A large-scale algorithm created by one person must have many problems..."

Tan Zhiming found it incomprehensible.

Later, he invited another academician from the basic physics group, Zhao Chunhua.

Zhao Chunhua has a very rich resume. He has more than ten years of experience working in nuclear power plants, and the team he leads is also very strong.

Now nearly sixty years old, he still spends most of his time at the Experimental Physics Center, but his team in the Basic Physics Group is still very strong.

Zhao Chunhua also knew how important large-scale experimental deviation analysis algorithms were, so he decided to join Tan Zhiming's research team and asked several capable researchers in the group to join.

As a result, Tan Zhiming's team now has three academicians - Tan Zhiming, Wu Jianning and Zhao Chunhua.

Each of the three academicians has a large research team, and they can easily form a team together.

Tan Zhiming also found a large computer room in the research base of the CP group as a project base.

After convening the core members, he held a meeting for the entire project team and made it clear that they would study a large-scale experimental deviation analysis algorithm. "For details, you can refer to the small-scale experimental deviation analysis algorithm."

"We can also refer to Zhang Shuo's report at the CHEP conference, but we won't conduct research entirely in the direction of his ideas. We need to find other directions and come up with a new approach."

"Our short-term goal is to clarify the research direction and plan the algorithm..."

……

After Zhang Shuo communicated the time with the Computing Center, he continued to revise his graduation thesis. It took him more than two hours to complete it.

It's very late.

He was just about to go out to eat something when Gao Xiaohong happened to come over with a lunch box in her hand.

She put the lunch box on the table with a gentle smile in her eyes, "I just went out to eat with Teacher Luo and Sun Xingli. I knew you forgot the time, so I packed it for you."

Zhang Shuo felt warm in his heart. He said "thank you" and sat on the sofa to eat.

Gao Xiaohong sat aside and said, "I just want to ask, what does the computing center say? Should the Quantum Institute send someone over?"

"It's set for next Wednesday."

Zhang Shuo mentioned the time, thought about it and said, "Let the Quantum Institute send three people. Find the person who understands that part of the plan best, and then we can go to the Computing Center together."

He added, "Acceptance is also considered part of the project. When the time comes, all expenses will be reimbursed from the funds."

Gao Xiaohong nodded and said, "I will talk to Academician Qiu tomorrow and ask them to prepare."

She sat aside and watched Zhang Shuo eat.

Zhang Shuo felt something strange. He could also feel the look in Gao Xiaohong’s eyes. It seemed... a little gentle, and a little complicated?
He continued eating, estimated in his mind, and picked up his phone to transfer a hundred yuan to Gao Xiaohong.

Gao Xiaohong glanced at the messages on her phone and said unhappily, "I get angry when you do this."

Zhang Shuo smiled and said, "Okay, when we come back from the computing center, we'll have a celebration banquet and I'll definitely invite you."

"I'm sure you'll come."

Gao Xiaohong smiled.

They packed up and walked out together, and the door of the dean's office opposite just opened.

Tan Youming looked at Zhang Shuo, then at Gao Xiaohong, coughed lightly and said, "Zhang Shuo, you will defend your thesis at 1 pm tomorrow."

He said this and left quickly.

Zhang Shuo pursed his lips and looked at Gao Xiaohong, saying helplessly, "This is also one of the bad things about my office. Dean Tan never leaves early, and he always leaves very late."

"Puch."

Gao Xiaohong felt a little embarrassed about being misunderstood, and she laughed out loud at this remark.

……

The next day after lunch, when Zhang Shuo arrived at the research institute building, there were already many people there.

Tan Youming, Qi Zhixiang, Wang Hui, Luo Yongjun, Su Bingkang and others were all there, some in the large office on the first floor, and some talking in the corridor.

Qi Zhixiang pulled Zhang Shuo over and introduced two people, one was Academician Qian Zhitong from Dongguan Jiaotong University, and the other was Academician Du Sheng from Jinling University.

"You are still young. I didn't go to Daya Bay this year. What a pity! I missed such a wonderful experience!"

Qian Zhitong said with admiration.

Du Sheng shook his head. "I did go, but the professional field is different. I don't know if I can understand it today."

Everyone else laughed.

Zhang Shuo talked to them for a few words, then went upstairs to get a few printed copies of the thesis content. When he came downstairs, it was almost time for the thesis defense.

Since he was the only one doing the defense, the time was not so tight.

We are just joking and preparing.

Tan Youming formed a defense committee with seven members, including himself, academicians Qian Zhitong and Du Sheng, as well as Qi Zhixiang, Ma Huichun and Professor Chen Tianze. Wang Hui served as the secretary of the defense committee. The defense committee was very strong, with three academicians from the School of Mathematics.

But in fact, only Academician Qian Zhitong and Professor Chen Tianze are professionally engaged in the research of analytic number theory and arithmetic geometry. In addition, only Ma Huichun is involved in the research of number theory. The fields of others have nothing to do with analytic number theory.

"Don't worry."

Tan Zhiming smiled and said, "I have read their papers. Zhang Shuo did the final research. Arithmetic geometry only occupies a small part. The rest are partial differential equations, function theory, and some logical arguments."

"I didn't really care at first, but now that you said that, I'm actually getting nervous."

Du Sheng asked, "Does it involve so many fields?"

"It's a bit complicated, and there are some parts I don't understand." Chen Tianze said.

Chen Tianze is also a researcher at the High Court. He specializes in analytic number theory and has published many results in related fields. He is only forty years old.

He is the 'main' member of the defense committee.

Chen Tianze's words made others start to worry that they might not understand. They came to serve as the review experts of the defense group, but ended up not being able to understand even the content, which was a bit embarrassing.

Soon, the defense officially began.

In the office, the members of the defense committee sat in a row.

Luo Yongjun, Su Bingkang, and several other professors sat on the sidelines, clearly looking on in anticipation of the fun.

Zhang Shuo stood in front of a large whiteboard with his paper in hand and said, "My paper title is 'Prime Number Distribution: The Gerbov Conjecture, Proof Based on the Square-Starting Prime Number Test Method'."

There is a title in front and an explanatory subtitle at the back.

"The first page is about the basics. Professor Sun Xingli studied the square-based prime number test method, which is a method for determining prime numbers starting with square numbers."

"Based on this, make some mappings of the solution sets of arithmetic geometry equations..."

As he spoke, he started writing on the whiteboard.

As Zhang Shuo gave his in-depth explanation, many of the defense experts in the row showed confusion on their faces.

This is normal.

When Zhang Shuo gave a report at the conference, only a few people could understand him. They had heard the report on "Prime Number Testing Method" and had a deep understanding of the basics.

Du Sheng and Qi Zhixiang had never read the research and their professional fields were different, so they found it difficult to understand when it came to arithmetic and geometric transformations.

They wanted to ask questions and found that others seemed to understand, especially Chen Tianze, who kept nodding.

They didn't say anything.

Zhang Shuo talked about a key issue. He conducted an analysis around mapping parsing and made a very subtle transformation.

This conversion step is also what the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton calls "subtle". The "subtlety" of mathematical proof means that it is very difficult to understand.

Zhang Shuo also knew that it was very difficult to understand, so he gave a very detailed explanation and asked as he explained, "Do you understand?"

"Do you understand this step?"

"Do you want me to tell you again?"

The entire row of people in the defense group looked at each other and found that only Chen Tianze did not turn his head.

Qian Zhitong and Tan Youming are both in a state of semi-abandonment.

They tried to understand, but it was very difficult and they all wanted to skip this step.

Anyway, the research has been confirmed by the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, so there is definitely no problem. You can skip this step and slowly understand it later.

Everyone else thought the same thing.

Zhang Shuo noticed it and smiled, "Then I'll tell you again."

He spent another ten minutes explaining in detail the delicate transformation process.

One characteristic of mathematics is that if you can understand it, you can understand it. If you cannot understand it, it will be very difficult to understand it.

After Zhang Shuo explained it again, only Qian Zhitong felt that he had caught up with the train of thought again.

Tan Youming found that listening to Zhang Shuo's explanation seemed to be no different from his own research, and most of the things he couldn't understand were about differences in fields.

The area he was best at was harmonic analysis, but the proof process used methods of partial differential equations and function theory, and the content was number theory problems that started with the study of arithmetic geometry.

The fields are too different.

Among the other judges, Du Sheng and Qi Zhixiang had already given up.

Ma Huichun was just there to make up the numbers. His research involved analytic number theory, but not partial differential equations at all. He didn't know much about the method of solution set mapping, so he decisively chose to give up at this point.

Wang Hui is the secretary of the defense committee, and he doesn't consider himself a judge at all.

While Zhang Shuo was explaining, he leisurely poured tea for several judges.

Now only Qian Zhitong and Chen Tianze were left. Zhang Shuo also found that Qian Zhitong and Chen Tianze were listening very seriously, while the eyes of the others were a little vague.

He didn't care and continued talking about the content.

Soon we reached another difficult point.

Zhang Shuo began to explain slowly again, detailing each step down to the theorems and formulas used.

This time Qian Zhitong asked several questions in succession.

After Zhang Shuo explained it very seriously, Qian Zhitong found that he still didn't quite understand. He simply waved his hand and said with a wry smile, "Forget it, Zhang Shuo, just tell Professor Chen Tianze. We... don't understand."

He turned his head and looked at the others, "Stop pretending to know something you don't!"

As soon as these words were spoken, there was silence.

Luo Yongjun, who was watching, burst out laughing, and Wang Hui also laughed.

Several defense experts lowered their heads.

Du Sheng felt very ashamed. He traveled all the way to Soochow University to be a defense expert, but ended up not understanding the content of the report.

Awkward or not?
Zhang Shuo said calmly, "It's okay, it's all normal. When I gave a report at the conference, it seemed that only Academician Qiu and Professor Zhu Hao understood everything."

“Some of the difficulties involve multiple fields and are indeed difficult to understand.”

These words made everyone present feel a lot more relaxed.

Qiu Chengwen is a Fields Medal winner. He was hired as a professor at a prestigious university when he was in his early twenties. He is a truly talented mathematician.

Professor Zhu Hao, who is less than 50 years old, is one of the top scholars in the field of number theory in China, and his research also covers many other fields.

Given Zhu Hao's fame and achievements, it is certain that he will be elected as an academician this year.

There is really no comparison between these two people.

……

After Qian Zhitong opened his mouth, the defense process turned into a question-and-answer session between Chen Tianze and Zhang Shuo.

Everyone else became spectators and simply started chatting in the office.

Tan Youming, Du Sheng and Qian Zhitong wrote their scores directly. They did not exchange opinions at all and gave the full score of '100'. They did not understand the content and could not find a reason to deduct points.

After giving their scores, they went to Tan Youming’s office together.

Chen Tianze studied the proof thoroughly. He only had a few questions, and Zhang Shuo answered them one by one in a targeted manner.

After figuring out the last logical question, Chen Tianze exclaimed, "What an amazing study!"

“There is not much content in this follow-up part, but it is much more difficult than the determination method studied by Professor Sun Xingli.”

director's office.

Du Sheng, Qian Zhitong and Tan Youming were sitting together, also talking about Zhang Shuo's problem.

Qian Zhitong sighed, "Even though I didn't understand much today, I gained a lot. It finally satisfied my curiosity."

"Everyone is talking about Zhang Shuo now. I also want to see what a genius looks like. Sure enough, he is!"

"With this level of skill, if nothing unexpected happens, I will definitely win an international mathematics award in the future!"

Du Sheng also nodded. "There are still many reports in the media saying how talented Zhang Shuo is. It's really better to meet him in person than to hear about him. No wonder Academician Qiu gave him a thumbs up. He is the second Scholz!"

Tan Youming said, "Many people compare Zhang Shuo to Scholz, but they are different. You may not know that Zhang Shuo is more interested in physics."

"what?"

"why?"

Du Sheng hurriedly said, "You have to stop him. He is a good math student. It would be a waste for him to study physics!"

Tan Youming smiled bitterly, "Can I stop him? Look at his research."

"Two international physics conferences involved an unknown physical phenomenon. His and Agostini's research caused the CP group's experiments at the Institute of High Energy Physics to be suspended."

"In the field of mathematics, Zhang Shuo has completed several studies, but in the field of physics, he can influence large-scale experiments."

Qian Zhitong and Du Sheng looked at each other and exclaimed, "This is a genius!"

(End of this chapter)