Chapter 611 The Most Suitable Reviewer

Princeton.

Office of the Institute for Advanced Study.

Wei Wen, who was sitting at the desk, was staring at the draft paper on the desk, thinking hard.

About 19 years ago, after leaving Princeton, Lu Zhou introduced him to Professor Edward Witten to engage in research in the direction of mathematical physics.

Wei Wen was quite excited when he first studied for a Ph.D. under Professor Witten.

But anyone who is doing mathematics and physics, or even has some understanding of this direction, it is impossible not to have heard of Witten's name.

However, it is not an easy task to study a Ph.D. under Daniel. This excitement didn't last long, and he gradually began to feel the strain.

Because of frequent visits to CERN, Witten spends less than a third of his time in Princeton in a year. So much so that most of the time, he can only face academic difficulties alone.

It was also after he became a student of Professor Witten that he finally understood why Professor Lu's Brother Luo failed to graduate after so many years. And he finally realized how much Professor Lu, who usually took the trouble to guide them to complete their studies, cared for them.

Even, even though it has been more than a year since he graduated, he will still help himself find a solution when he encounters an unsolvable problem.

For example, entrusting him to a scholar he knows...

Walking to his side with two cups of coffee, Professor Fefferman put a cup of coffee beside him and asked in a gentle tone.

"Have any ideas?"

"Not yet."

"Do you need help?"

Wei Wen shook his head, stared at the line of calculations on the paper, and continued to struggle.

"No, thank you, you've helped me enough...give me another ten minutes, and I feel like I'm close to finding the answer, just a little bit closer."

"I'm afraid ten minutes is not enough time, maybe two hours." Professor Fefferman glanced at the watch on his wrist, and continued, "I will have a class on differential equations in a while, until six o'clock, you You can find me in the Office of the Dean of Mathematics at Princeton University.”

Wei Wen said with shame: "Sorry for taking up so much of your time."

"It's okay, I'm not very busy recently." After taking a sip of coffee, Professor Fefferman said with a casual smile, "What's more, Professor Lu has also helped me a lot. He's not here now. If you have anything It’s the same for asking me questions.”

Wei Wen smiled wryly in his heart, but he didn't speak.

Although he could probably feel that Professor Fefferman really told him not to care too much, he felt even more ashamed of this favor.

Maybe it's a cultural difference.

At this moment, there was a knock on the door, and soon a man wearing glasses and looking at the young man walked in.

It seemed that he recognized him, especially when he saw the stack of A4 papers in his hand, Fefferman suddenly showed a troubled expression on his face.

As if confirming his guess, the man shook the paper in his hand and said. "Professor Fefferman, Professor Sarnak from the editorial department of Annals of Mathematics asked me to bring this paper to you. He asked me to convey to you tactfully that he hopes that you will be the reviewer of this paper. "

"Then you remember to tell him for me, this way of expression is not euphemistic at all, I hope next time he can send the review invitation to my mailbox together with the paper, instead of sending it over like a door-to-door," looking at the The little assistant who was at a loss, Professor Fefferman shrugged and said, "...and, I have a vacation in two days, please trouble him to find someone else."

"Mr. Sanak expected you to say that," the assistant continued, "He told me to tell you that you are the most suitable candidate, and only you have the ability to review this paper."

After staring at the assistant for a while, Professor Fefferman, who was holding a coffee in his hand, sighed as if giving up.

"Okay, you can bring it here."

He's never been particularly good at turning down requests, especially from his field of expertise.

Seeing that Professor Fefferman agreed, the assistant immediately handed over the paper with a smile, and said, "Good professor."

After the thesis was delivered, the assistant didn't stay in the office any longer, and left here quickly.

There will be class in a while, and Fefferman can't spare time to read it carefully, so he simply flipped through it twice.

There are no names on the paper.

This type of double-blind review occasionally occurs.

Fefferman roughly guessed that either the contributor was an acquaintance he knew, or a colleague who worked at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton or a nearby university.

But these are not the point.

Even if he roughly guesses who the author is from the style of the paper, he will not put water on the review because of his acquaintance.

"A proof of the existence of solutions to the Yang-Mills equation? Shouldn't this kind of paper be shown to Witten? I bet he's more interested than me."

Seeing the title of "exaggerated", Fefferman raised his eyebrows slightly, and continued to read with interest.

But soon, he let out a light sigh, and his Shuzhan brows also frowned slightly.

Noticing the change in his expression, Wei Wen asked hesitantly.

"What's wrong, Professor?"

After staring at the paper for a while, Professor Fefferman suddenly smiled and shook his head.

"……nothing."

He now finally knows why Sanak insisted on submitting this paper to him for review.

"L-manifolds... and the partial differential geometry method for partial differential equations," swept his index finger across the ink-printed A4 paper, Professor Fefferman smiled, and said with a bit of emotion in his tone, "Can the There is only one person who has applied the theory to this extent."

Wei Wen's expression was slightly moved.

"Professor Lu's thesis?"

"Yes," Professor Fefferman nodded, and continued, "The proof of the existence of the solution of the Yang-Mills equation, it seems that he has not stopped his progress in mathematics."

Hearing the content of the thesis, Wei Wen gasped, and the shock in his heart was beyond words.

Challenge two millennium puzzles in a row...

Is this still human?

After returning to his desk and sitting down, Professor Fefferman took out his mobile phone from his pocket, opened his address book, and called his PhD and teaching assistant.

"Hey, Lewis, are you free now? There will be a class on partial differential equations in about half an hour. Whether you are free or not, I hope you or you can help me find someone to attend for me."

"...Well, I have something to do here."

"Very important."

There are three sentences in total.

After explaining the matter clearly, he hung up the phone and put the phone on the desk.

Looking at the paper on the table, his pupils gradually began to flash with excitement.

Let me take a look.

This is my first year away from Princeton.

Is your attainment in mathematics improving or regressing...