Chapter 1031 As if From the Void

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Hilbert's speech on the question of the century ushered in a new century for the Riemann conjecture.

And mathematics, a small ship far from the sight of mortals, has left behind a magnificent legend under the huge curtain of this changing twentieth century era.

At this moment, this century-long journey to the glory of the human mind has finally come to an end.

Under the attention of the eyes from almost all over the world, this report meeting to answer the question of the century finally kicked off...

The scene of the report meeting was crowded.

Even the largest lecture hall in the Krinthia Hotel could not accommodate all the attendees and those who arrived from a long distance in a normal posture.

Some people brought stools from other places, some people just sat on the ground, and some people even sat on the suitcases...

The reporters carrying the cameras stood in the back row of the venue, and there were only two or three cameras there.

In order not to interfere with the progress of this report, the Organizing Committee of the IMU Conference only issued admission qualifications to limited media. It is precisely because of this that only BBC, CTV, and Columbia TV are standing in this lecture hall at this moment, and these media have a certain influence on a global scale.

The noisy sound filled the entire venue, almost toppling the ceiling.

Almost everyone was talking about the upcoming report and the paper that Lu Zhou posted on Arxiv yesterday.

At this moment, there was a soft knock on the door not far away.

The door close to the podium of the venue opened, and a figure familiar to everyone walked in steadily from outside the lecture hall.

As if his mouth was sealed, the entire venue fell silent for a while.

A pair of fiery gazes focused on the man invariably.

Everyone was waiting for him to speak and lead him to announce the start of the meeting...

Looking around at the audience below the stage, Lu Zhou, who was standing on the stage, opened his mouth, but just as he was about to start this 60-minute report, the pair of eyes below the stage were filled with anticipation and confusion. , suddenly made him change his mind, and instead spoke.

"...I know that you probably have a lot of questions to ask, including the Riemann conjecture, including the future of all of us. So much so that when I first entered the door, I noticed that the man sitting in the front row was half ass. Got out of the chair...I guess he has a lot of questions he wants to ask me and can't wait."

There were bursts of kind laughter from the audience, and the originally solemn air also eased a little.

Looking at the embarrassed young scholar who sat back with a blushing face, Lu Zhou paused for a moment and said in a relaxed tone.

"As usual, I should end the nonsense now and start this sixty-minute report, but due to the special circumstances, I intend to set aside five minutes before the report will start to answer the questions of a part of the audience, so that this part of the audience can Focus more on the presentation itself. If you have any questions you would like to know before this presentation, you can raise your hand."

Almost before the sentence was finished, one hand was instantly raised.

Lu Zhou looked around the front row of the venue and ordered a random person.

The Indian boy who was selected by Lu Zhou who was sitting in the front row quickly stood up.

The glasses-wearing, 30-something-year-old academic with curly hair came from the lower and lower reaches of the mathematician's contempt chain—the field of artificial intelligence. As soon as he came up, he threw a sharp question.

"Is the Riemann conjecture proven?"

More than half of the audience pricked up their ears.

For those scholars who are not engaged in acting in the direction of analytic number theory, although they are also concerned about what method Lu Zhou used to prove the Riemann conjecture, and how this set of mathematical methods can affect other disciplines, in comparison What they are more concerned about is whether the proposition of Riemann's conjecture itself has been proved.

Even if it is only declared in a positive tone.

In response to the anticipation of the audience, Lu Zhou nodded.

"Yes, I can say responsibly, from now on, it doesn't matter if you use it as a theorem."

There were whispers from the audience.

Many people's faces were filled with unexpected expressions.

Generally speaking, the more famous scholars are, the more cherished their feathers are. Unless they are the kind of people who have completely released themselves, if they are not more than 100% sure, few people will use such a certain tone to declare that they have proved a major mathematical proposition.

After all, if it succeeds, it’s okay to say, if it fails, it’s not something that can be easily revealed by saying “I’m sorry to make a mistake”.

The reason why Sir Attia, who once claimed to have proved the Riemann conjecture, was frequently rejected in his later years, was largely because he had not done anything "good" in the past ten years, and often declared without end. He proved something but could not give an explanation. Even when he claimed to have proved the Riemann conjecture, even Arxiv rejected his manuscript, so that he had to find another way to publish his research results. (Note 1)

The practice of not giving himself any wiggle room like this really surprised many people by his courage and self-confidence.

After getting the answer he wanted, the Indian boy sat back, and then stood up was a math professor from Columbia University.

"After solving the Riemann conjecture? Where will the discipline of analytic number theory go? I mean... Throughout the twentieth century, we have achieved countless breakthrough results in the field of number theory, including Fermat's Last Theorem, or more At least they were obtained through the exploration or indirect exploration of Riemann's conjecture. Now this hen that can only lay golden eggs is gone, how should we go in the future?"

Compared with the previous question that can be answered with yes or no, this question is undoubtedly a little more advanced.

Lu Zhou thought about it for about five seconds and said.

"I can answer your question, but I want to put the answer at the end of the whole report."

Glancing at the clock on the wall, Lu Zhou cleared his throat and continued.

"It's almost time, please put down those hands that are still holding up."

"At the end of this briefing, I will allow ample time to answer all of your questions."

"Now, let's get to the point."

Just like the countless presentations he had done before, Lu Zhou, who turned around and walked to the whiteboard, picked up the marker under the whiteboard.

Then, he wrote the first line of text on it—

[Proof: All non-trivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function are located on the line of Re(s)=1/2 on the complex plane...]

There are no special opening lines.

However, everyone tacitly focused their eyes on the whiteboard.

A report on the proof of the Riemann conjecture...

It's already started!

offstage.

Staring at the line of words printed on the whiteboard, Tao Zhexuan, who was sitting next to Professor Fefferman, suddenly spoke with a hint of excitement.

"He really adjusted the content of the report!"

"Isn't this inevitable?" Professor Fefferman gave him a strange look, "Now the whole mathematical community is concerned about this matter, even if he wants to pretend that nothing happened, it is impossible. "

Tao Zhexuan continued to say excitedly, "No, I wasn't sure if he was serious until a few minutes ago, but now it seems that my suspicions are superfluous."

Professor Fefferman opened his mouth and said with a helpless expression.

"...If you think so, it's really superfluous. At least as far as I know him, he never jokes about this kind of thing."

Just as the two were talking, Lu Zhou, who was standing on the stage, did not stop in the slightest, and the brush in his hand moved quickly. In less than half a minute, he had already swiped through four or five lines.

【ζ(s)=2Γ(1-s)(2π)s-1sin(πs/2)ζ(1-s)…】

【…】

After taking the first step, it was soon the second step.

As the line-by-line formulas are written, there are more and more formulas on the whiteboard, and the difficulty gradually changes from easy to understand to obscure and complicated.

Sitting in the front of the stage, looking up at the flowing brushstrokes on the whiteboard, whether it is Academician Wang, or young scholars such as Zhang Wei, Xu Chenyang, and Yang Yongan sitting next to them, their faces are full of shock. look.

Surprised by this series of exquisite operations, Yang Yongan finally couldn't hold back and exclaimed in admiration.

"……So fast!"

Zhang Wei, who was sitting next to him, also sighed with a complicated expression.

"It seems that he really intends to finish the whole paper in 60 minutes."

In fact, before the briefing, he was prepared that the 60-minute briefing might be extended.

After all, judging from the content of the paper on Arxiv, it doesn't look like it can be explained clearly in 60 minutes. Many of the complex and deep logic in it, even if the prover reviews it by himself, I'm afraid it will take a long time. some effort.

But now it seems that he thinks too much.

Keep talking at this speed, I am afraid it will take less than sixty minutes, forty or fifty minutes is enough for this great god...

Xu Chenyang said with a complicated expression: "Unbelievable... At this speed, does he not need to think at all?"

It would be fine if he wrote it according to the thesis, but he only held a pen in his hand.

The most incredible thing is that even just writing, on some key steps, he will also add a short explanation to explain why he wrote this step, and why this step is Step by step foreshadowing.

It feels like...

The whole proof process has been engraved in his mind, and he is completely aware of it.

Zhang Wei pondered for a while, then said, "Maybe, all the steps have already been memorized by him."

Yang Yongan looked at him with a moving expression.

"That...that's too exaggerated."

At this moment, Qin Yue, who had been sitting beside him without speaking, suddenly interrupted.

"It's not an exaggeration for a professor."

Hearing this sudden voice, whether it was Yang Yongan, Zhang Wei or Xu Chenyang, or Academician Wang sitting there quietly, they all cast unexpected glances at Qin Yue.

Noticing the eyes looking at him, Qin Yue paused for a moment and continued.

"From what I know about the professor, he doesn't remember these things deliberately at all."

Academician Wang Shicheng frowned and said, "Is it really a push on the spot?"

"I'm afraid yes," Qin Yue nodded and continued, "for him, to solve a solved problem again is a thing in itself that can be regarded as a pastime."

OK……

Resolve solved problems as a pastime...

No wonder this guy is so strong.

Regardless of how shocked the expressions on Academician Wang Shicheng's faces were after Qin Yue said this, the two Fields Medal winners of the last imu conference sitting on the other side of the venue were also standing on the stage. Lu Zhou's series of operations were astounding.

"Unbelievable..." After moving his stiff neck, Professor Aksai raised his index finger, touched the glasses on the bridge of his nose, and said softly, "Introducing the differential manifold to the complex plane... he The method completely overturned my understanding of differential geometry and meromorphic functions."

Sitting next to him, Schultz, who folded his arms, smiled and said, "It seems that he is playing very stable."

Aksai glanced at him and said, "It's a bit... surprising."

Schultz: "What happened?"

Staring straight at the whiteboard, Aksai pondered for a while, then continued: "I don't understand, how he came up with it. I don't know if you can understand this feeling, it's like a light coming from the sky It came, but when we looked up we couldn't find the light source."

Also looking at the filled whiteboard, Schultz suddenly smiled and said in a somewhat emotional tone.

"It's not surprising, we don't understand it, just because we don't know how long he lingered in front of the maze. And he doesn't seem to be happy to write the staged results in a paper and share them with us before making a grand one. We see."

"So, I can understand your confusion, my friend. Because those equations are the same for me, they're not so obscure as to be incomprehensible, but they still give me this unreal feeling. Like Mr. Grothendieck's work, almost every scholar who has studied this field deeply, has delved into the classics that are regarded as the bible of algebraic geometry. However, when we try to follow his line of thought, we can't understand how he came into being. If you think about it and trace it back to the source, this arrogant idea will mostly fail. It’s like…”

Speaking of which, Schultz paused for a moment.

As if searching for an apt metaphor, he thought for a long time.

At this moment, the filled whiteboard on the stage has been dragged aside by the staff and replaced with a brand new whiteboard.

Standing in front of the whiteboard, Lu Zhou just paused for a few seconds, then raised the pen in his hand and continued to write on it.

At this time, Schultz finally thought of it.

Almost subconsciously, the unfinished words blurted out of his mouth.

"...as if from the void."

"It's like those formulas don't belong to this world at all."

-

(Note 1: Sir Attia himself publicly complained about this matter in the questioning session of the Heidelberg Report. In fact, it is indeed very rare for scholars like him to be rejected frequently, especially Arxiv, even a folk mathematician. A place where you can be treated leniently.

A failed proof of a major mathematical proposition claims that the blow to a scholar's academic reputation is extremely severe, and several consecutive failures result in the loss of everyone's trust, even the Fields Medal. And the halo of the Abel Prize will be eclipsed by the tarnished academic reputation. This shows that academia is a very realistic place. )