Chapter 431 Closing of the Conference

After the end of Vera's report, it not only aroused enthusiastic responses at the conference, but also attracted the attention of the media at the International Conference of Mathematicians.

Mathematics has long been considered a male domain, with few women able to make outstanding achievements in this field. And this means that the impact of any outcome will be magnified.

What's more, as a number game that was once all the rage in North America, the difficulty of Kakutani's conjecture is not low.

However, to the media's regret, this young female mathematician doesn't seem to like being interviewed, or rather fears the feeling of being stared at by a camera.

But fortunately, although Vera was not interviewed, her mentor is still relatively easy to talk to.

The third day after the end of the report, which is the fourth day of the International Congress of Mathematicians.

The BBC Science reporter made an appointment with Lu Zhou to conduct a brief interview at a cafe near the Barra da Tijuca Hotel.

BBC reporter: "...We all know that there are two reports related to you, and the proof of Kadotani's conjecture was completed by your student, Ms. Vera Puyui. Excuse me, how do you evaluate your students? ?”

Lu Zhou: "Vera is an excellent student, including her two other collaborators, Qin Yue and Hardy, who are also very talented in number theory. I don't think gender is an issue that needs to be overly concerned. Among the academics I know, there are also wonderful women."

BBC reporter: "I heard that she was guided by you when she was studying the Kakutani conjecture. Many people think that this conjecture was actually solved by you. What do you think of these remarks or rumors?"

Lu Zhou smiled: "What I provide is only the idea of ​​solving the problem and the method guidance to them, and the whole proof is indeed completed by themselves, there is no doubt about it. Moreover, it turns out that the group construction method It is indeed an excellent number theory method that can be used to solve many problems in additive number theory."

Reporter: "Then, regarding the group construction method, which problem do you most expect it to be used to solve? Or in other words, which field of proposition do you study?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Do you really want me to say it? In fact, I think that even if I don't say it, my colleagues will probably be able to see it."

The reporter pursed his lips and smiled: "You should talk about it and take care of us laymen."

Lu Zhou thought for a while and answered briefly, "Hua Lin's question."

Among many problems in additive number theory, the Waring problem can be said to be one of the classic propositions.

This proposition originated from the "Algebraic Meditations" published by Waring in 1770. In the book, Edward Waring himself conjectured that for every positive integer k other than 1, there exists a positive integer g(k), such that every All positive integers can be expressed as the sum of at most g(k) k-th powers.

As a classic problem in additive number theory, there are not a few people who are engaged in the research of this problem.

Among them, the existence of g(k) has been proved by Hilbert with complex methods, and the case of g(2)=4 is the four-square sum theorem, which was proved by Lagrange as early as the eighteenth century.

Among the later researchers, Veyferiech, Balasubramanian, and Chen Jingrun proved the cases of g(3), g(4), and g(5) respectively.

If you want to ask which problem Lu Zhou is most optimistic about being used to solve, then there is no doubt that it is the Hualin problem.

"That's really surprising..." The reporter looked at Lu Zhou in surprise. Although she is not from the academic world, she is a reporter for the science column after all, and she has heard about the status of this issue in the field of mathematics.

After a pause, the BBC reporter continued to ask: "So, regarding your other report, we all know that you have proved the existence of solutions to the NS equation, and your proof is generally recognized by the academic community...but What would happen to our lives if, I mean hypothetically, the proposition was not proven, but falsified?"

Crossing his fingers on his knees, Lu Zhou leaned on the chair and smiled, and said in a relaxed tone: "In fact, if this proposition is falsified, the meaning will be even greater. Taking smoothness as an example, if we find that in a certain At a particular point in time, our equations are no longer smooth, which may mean that we have not only solved an outstanding mathematical problem, but that we have discovered new physics."

Reporter: "Then do you feel any regrets?"

Lu Zhou sighed: "It's a pity... In fact, when we cooperated with Professor Fefferman to study this topic, we once thought that we had discovered this special time point, but unfortunately it turned out that it was just an illusion."

"What made you discover that?"

"While jogging by the lake, as for more specific ideas..." Lu Zhou looked around and asked, "Is there a blackboard here? If so, I can explain this problem in detail."

The reporter said sweatingly, "This...is unnecessary."

The relevant report was released the day after the interview. After editing by the BBC Science column, interspersed with some clips from the report meeting, it can be regarded as restoring the original appearance of the interview.

After watching the news video on Youtubie, Lu Zhou glanced at the comment section.

Unfortunately, foreign netizens don't seem to be very interested in these two things, mathematics and academic mastery, and the focus of attention is all on Vera.

And the comments with the most likes are basically translated as "Miss is so beautiful!", "I want to organize a group trip to Ukraine", "Do you have a boyfriend?", "Do you want to find a girlfriend?" and so on. Content.

He admitted that Vera, who was struggling to overcome the weakness in her heart, stood on the stage and gave a report bravely, indeed looked a little dazzling. But what really deserves attention is not in these boring things at all.

It is so superficial!

Shaking his head, Lu Zhou turned off the video, and didn't want to talk about the fact that he was ignored by netizens on the Internet...

...

The core of the International Congress of Mathematicians is still academic exchanges, and many wonderful papers and reports did emerge during the conference. In various senses, Lu Zhou can be said to have gained a lot in this conference.

After spending every day in academic exchanges, the nine-day International Conference of Mathematicians finally came to an end amidst the singing and dancing of a group of South American artists.

After the closing ceremony, the conference logo outside the Barra da Tijuca Hotel was removed, and scholars from all over the world boarded the return flight one after another.

It is worth mentioning that, in the end, Bill Carr still did not find his lost medal.

However, the organizers graciously held a special awards ceremony to make up for the lost medals for him, which can be regarded as not leaving this conference with irreparable regrets.

“… the law and order in Rio was disappointing, there were even attendees being robbed on the beach, without a doubt the worst ICM ever. Never before has a Fields Medal been stolen And it happened within half an hour of the award ceremony." Sitting on the return plane, Professor Fefferman shook his head and said.

The South American mathematics community is unique in the direction of dynamical systems, led by Brazil, and this is one of the reasons why this mathematical conference was chosen to be held in Rio de Janeiro.

Although the International Union of Mathematicians had concerns about the security situation in Rio de Janeiro before, it was unexpected that it would be so serious, let alone such an embarrassing thing.

In particular, the perfunctory attitude of the local police in Rio de Janeiro is even more disappointing.

If it weren't for the excellent presentations at the conference, this year's ICM conference could only be described as terrible...

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Why don't you come to Beijing to hold it? I can guarantee that even if you dig three feet, the lost medals will be found."

Of course, Lu Zhou felt that it was more likely that the thief would be targeted before he made a move, and he would be killed as soon as he reached out.

After staying outside for so long, apart from those relatives and friends, what he missed the most was the domestic security environment.

Professor Fefferman smiled.

"This is a good idea, and I believe that there will be this opportunity in the future!"