Chapter 453 Mathematics only Pursues the Truth

During this period of time, Lu Zhou has been busy with the research of superconducting materials and the graduation of students.

Although he set attention tags on Sir Attia's thesis and the progress of Riemann's conjecture, he didn't have time to pay attention to the report meeting of the Heidelberg Laureate Forum. Forget about it.

Until recently, he suddenly received an invitation from the "Annual Journal of Mathematics".

The editor-in-chief, Professor Peter Sarnak, hoped that he could write a short commentary of no more than 500 words for Sir Atiyah's thesis. Lu Zhou just remembered this news that caused a sensation in the mathematics world not long ago.

In the early morning, when I came to the office, Hardy walked over with some A4 papers.

"Professor, I have already printed the paper you want."

After receiving Sir Atiyah's thesis from Hardy, Lu Zhou froze for a moment, and looked at Hardy suspiciously.

"only these?"

"Yes, Professor," Hardy nodded, "I'm sure that's all."

The thesis has five pages in total and only three citations. There is a small typographical error in subsections 3 and 4, but it is not a big problem.

If the level of doctoral thesis is required, this thesis will definitely not be able to pass, but for the big cows in the academic world, everyone is more tolerant.

For example, when Wiles proved Fermat's last theorem, he even added a "preface" in front of the abstract, using a long paragraph to describe Fermat's last theorem and his childhood. Everyone just smiled when they saw it .

Of course, Sir Atiyah also has the qualifications to be willful. After all, he is the winner of the Fields Medal and the Abel Prize. The research on the Atiyah-Singer Index Theorem is one of the most important mathematical achievements in the 20th century.

However, these are not the point.

Will the mathematics community blindly believe in a person because of the glory or achievements a person has achieved?

The invitation to draft was sent by Professor Sarnak, and it was also out of respect for a respected scholar. Even without much hope, Lu Zhou still sat down on the office chair, holding the paper without any subjective color. The five-page paper looked up.

However, the more he looked down, the tighter his brows became.

As Sir Attia had previously declared, he "solved" the problem in a very simple way.

Sure enough, such claims are often unreliable...

After reading the paper from beginning to end, Lu Zhou already had a preliminary understanding of the proof idea of ​​the whole paper.

To put it simply, Sir Attia introduced a self-created weak analytic todd function in the proof, and used a hypothetical method to associate this todd function with the fine structure constant in physics.

The most embarrassing thing is not that he did not specifically describe what the todd function is in the paper, and where is the relationship with the Riemann zeta function, but that he used the method of contradiction in the argumentation process.

Yes, he actually used proof by contradiction.

That is, if the Riemann Hypothesis is wrong, then "my theory" is contradictory.

Since my theory cannot be contradictory, the Riemann Hypothesis must be true...

Seeing this, we can actually draw conclusions.

It's a pity, but now it seems that my initial hunch was right.

Looking at the expression on Lu Zhou's face, Hadi asked next to him, "Professing this paper, how do you feel?"

After hearing this sentence, Lu Zhou suddenly smiled and put the paper aside.

"You are also in the direction of number theory, don't you have any opinions of your own?"

Hardy scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "The field of my research is not the Riemann zeta function... To be honest, Sir Attia's paper is too esoteric, and it seems to use some terms in physics."

Lu Zhou: "That's right, Sir Attia used some terms in physics. I once heard Professor Witten who is familiar with him say that Sir Attia seems to have only entered the field of physics in recent years. And his physical intuition is really not flattering. As for this paper, in layman’s terms, he constructed a weak analytic todd function in the paper, and combined this function with a physical concept.”

"Is there anything wrong with that weakly parsed todd function?" Hardy couldn't help asking.

Lu Zhou: "Whether there is a problem with the weak parsing todd function itself remains to be discussed... because there is too little information that can be retrieved about this function, and I have no way to judge. The biggest problem in his paper is still the introduction of The fine structure constant in physics."

Hardy: "... fine structure constant?"

"Well," Lu Zhou nodded and continued, "This is an important dimensionless number in physics, the symbol α, which is commonly used in quantum electrodynamics."

This is a very important concept in physics, and it is usually used to measure the strength of the interaction between charged particles and electromagnetic fields.

What is more interesting is that physicists have spent more than a century trying to derive the value of α from a physical point of view, and then "fabricated" a mathematical formula for it.

But unfortunately, no one has succeeded so far, so that most people give up.

However, in Sir Attia's thesis, he used this concept rashly and directly, and used it as the basis of his own argument.

Although I don't want to say this, most of the people who often do this kind of thing are Professor Enoch's kind of folk science...

Hardy said regretfully: "...If you are right, Sir Atiyah will not be guaranteed at the end of the day."

"That's not true," Lu Zhou shook his head. "Even if he is wrong, his courage is still worthy of admiration."

In academia, there is an essential difference between "honest error" and "academic dishonesty".

Einstein also claimed many times in his later years that he had found a way to unify the field theory, and he even calculated it until the moment before he died... Even then, everyone no longer believed in his calculations, and just quietly accompanied him to the end.

In any case, it is not easy to be able to engage in research at the age of nearly 90.

It is even more commendable to be able to bet on your own honor and show the courage to challenge Mount Everest.

In short, it’s still what he said earlier, as long as the old man is happy...

...

Lu Zhou thought about the manuscript for the "Annual Journal of Mathematics", and finally wrote a polite reply letter, tactfully rejecting Professor Peter Sarnak's invitation to submit a manuscript on the grounds that he was busy with research.

Unlike Shinichi Mochizuki's obscure and long and complicated paper, when no one knows whether he is right or wrong, anyone who understands is obliged to stand up and testify.

However, the problems in Sir Attia's thesis are obvious, and the problems can be seen even without particularly advanced mathematical knowledge.

Even if he didn't say anything, everyone knew it in their hearts.

But this kind of bad face thing should be left to the old Mr. Faltings.

Anyway, old Mr. Faltings is well-known in the mathematics world for his "meanness" that does not give anyone a little face. Everyone will not think it is so strange, let alone lose face.

But for a 25-year-old to do something like this...

It's a bit too disrespectful to the feelings of the elderly.

After writing this reply, Lu Zhou suddenly understood why no one in the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton tacitly discussed such an important matter.

After all, everyone will grow old one day, and everyone needs to be decent and dignified...

Especially for a respectable scholar.

In addition, although the media likes to use some eye-catching things to exaggerate the facts, they are more willing to believe that Sir Atiyah, who is nearly 90 years old, is still young...

But unfortunately, mathematics only pursues the truth, and does not and has never compromised with public opinion.