416 Two Invitation Letters (1/3)

Chapter 416 Two Invitation Letters (13)

In early April, a big event happened in the mathematics world.

A paper published in the latest issue of "Annals of Mathematics" announced the solution of Kakutani's conjecture.

The so-called Kakutani conjecture is to write a natural number N arbitrarily. If it is an odd number, the next step becomes 3N+1. If it is an even number, the next step becomes N/2. After a finite number of cycles, it will inevitably fall into the bottom of [4, 2, 1].

This number game was all the rage in North America in the 1980s.

Prior to this, someone had used supercomputing to test the natural numbers below 1.1 trillion, and determined that no matter how much the numbers expanded during the period, they could not get rid of the curse of "421" in the end.

Because of this magical feature, this conjecture is also called the "hail conjecture", because the number's fall is as rapid and unstoppable as a hailstone.

And now, the papers by Vera and others have given a definite proof of this proposition in the language of mathematics——

That is, the Kakutani conjecture is established.

Once this paper was published, it received widespread attention.

What surprised the outside world is not only the proof of Kakutani's conjecture, but also the main completion of this paper is Lu Zhou's student.

According to the usual practice, the proof of such a major mathematical conjecture is often not something that can be done in one paper. In addition to the recognition of authoritative journals, the prover also needs to be recognized by the entire mathematical community.

Under normal circumstances, Princeton should arrange a report meeting for Vera and others to report relevant research results and answer questions from scholars in the same field.

But just in time for the quadrennial International Congress of Mathematicians in August, this report will be done by the more authoritative International Union of Mathematicians.

In the second week after the paper was published, Professor Peter Sanak, a tenured professor at Princeton and editor-in-chief of "Annual Mathematics", found Lu Zhou and brought an invitation letter from the International Union of Mathematicians.

It is rare for someone to receive two invitations at the same International Congress of Mathematicians.

At least not in Sanak's impression.

"...Professor Viana, the chairman of the Organizing Committee of the IMU Conference, sent me an email, hoping that I would forward this written letter to you. The proof of Kadotani's conjecture, a major mathematical conjecture, should be known to more people. It's a good opportunity It's rare, the International Congress of Mathematicians is coming soon, they specially arranged a 45-minute report meeting for you, do you have time here?"

Looking at Professor Sanak, Lu Zhou shook his head and said, "I already have a one-hour report meeting, and I'm very busy recently, I'm afraid I don't have time to prepare for the second report meeting."

Sanak raised his eyebrows: "About the NS equation?"

The "NS" research group officially applied for the opening of the topic at the Institute for Advanced Study. The cooperation between Lu Zhou and Professor Fefferman is no secret in Princeton.

What surprised Sanak was that this topic was officially started at the end of last year, and it has not even been a year yet.

Obviously, he didn't think Lu Zhou and Fefferman could complete the proof of the Millennium Problem in such a short period of time.

However, Lu Zhou's answer was beyond his expectation.

Lu Zhou nodded: "Yes."

Hearing this unexpected answer, Professor Sanak showed a surprised expression on his face: "Are you so sure that you can solve it before August? Will the time be too short?"

Lu Zhou smiled and continued to answer the question in a relaxed tone.

"When a tool is finished, it's only a matter of time until it fulfills its purpose. I have this hunch, and you should know that feeling."

Professor Sarnak frowned slightly, and then reacted immediately.

"The tool you are talking about is the paper on 'L-manifolds' that you recently submitted to the Annals of Mathematics?"

Lu Zhou smiled and nodded: "Exactly, in my opinion, it is the key to solving the NS equation."

Hearing this affirmative answer, Professor Sarnak was filled with emotion.

He had heard of that paper before, because it caused quite a controversy in the editorial department of "Annual Mathematics".

Although the novelty of this particular differential manifold is undeniable, many academic editors cannot see what the point or usefulness of this thing is.

Sarnak couldn't see it either, even though he was not ignorant of the field of partial differentials.

But in the end, he decided to accept Lu Zhou's manuscript and arranged for it to enter the peer review process.

Looking at it now, his original decision was really a far-sighted thing...

...

After bidding farewell to Professor Sarnak, Lu Zhou took the invitation letter of the IMU conference and went to the office of the Institute for Advanced Study, and called his three doctoral students together for an internal meeting.

"I have an invitation letter for a 45-minute report on the International Conference of Mathematicians. Although the organizer of the conference invited me to give a report, I think you need this opportunity more than me."

Pausing for a moment, Lu Zhou's gaze stayed on the faces of the three students for a while, and then continued.

"According to the usual practice, the report will be reported by the main thesis completer. I will recommend Vera as the reporter to the International Union of Mathematicians. What's your opinion?"

Qin Yue: "agreed!"

Hardy: "Second!"

The vote passed by a landslide.

Looking at the two students who raised their hands, Lu Zhou nodded and said happily, "It seems that we have reached a consensus."

Seeing that she was sold by two teammates in an instant, Vera was a little anxious: "Wait a minute, I..."

Hardy grinned and said, "You don't have to be modest. You completed the main part of the thesis, so you should naturally do the report."

She glanced at Lu Zhou in embarrassment, and Vera's voice became a little stammered because of nervousness: "But I have never given a report at the IMU conference... I have never even participated in it."

"It's nothing, it's my first time participating, even going to Brazil, I'm afraid I'll have to ask Hardy to be a guide." Lu Zhou smiled and said in an encouraging tone, "Your report at Berkeley Isn’t it good to be able to do it? I remember that you also got the certificate of the best young speaker. You just need to remember that you can perform normally on stage.”

Hearing Lu Zhou's encouragement, Vera became a little calmer, but the nervous expression on her face still did not completely ease down.

Looking at Vera's uneasy look, sometimes Lu Zhou really couldn't help wondering, is she really a Slav?

Although he didn't have a deep understanding of what other Slavs looked like, but based on the impressions he got in various movies, he couldn't match the two words timid and shy with the word Maozi.

After a pause, Lu Zhou continued: "Anyway, don't take it too seriously, just treat it as an ordinary report meeting and prepare. What's more, you still have four months to prepare slowly."

Pinching the corner of her clothes with her fingers, Vera asked in a low voice, "Can you help me?"

Lu Zhou shook his head: "I'm afraid it won't work this time."

Seeing the slightly disappointed expression on Vera's face, Lu Zhou paused for a moment, then continued.

"After today, I will continue to retreat. For this report, the only thing you can rely on is yourself."