Chapter 663: CCTV Interview

The interview was scheduled for a week later.

During this period of time, Lu Zhou has basically been busy with the miniaturization project of controllable fusion.

In order to increase the peak temperature of the bubbles in the working liquid, Lu Zhou and several old professors from the Institute of Acoustics also tried to improve the ultrasonic generator. By removing the acoustic levitation stabilization device on the generator, the energy of the load in the ultrasonic wave was increased. The maximum sound pressure acting on the bubble has increased from 15 times the atmospheric pressure to 30 times.

Of course, this doesn't come without cost.

Without the acoustic levitation stabilizer, the air bubbles in the solution cannot float stably in the center of the container.

However, sonoluminescence does not require the bubbles to float stably in a certain position in the container, so this side effect does not matter.

After updating the experimental equipment, Lu Zhou immediately took Sheng Xianfu and the others to repeat the experiment again, using two gases of xenon and deuterium-tritium mixture respectively, and observed the temperature of the bubbles and the key neutron recovery rate.

Handing the completed experiment report to Lu Zhou, Sheng Xianfu said with a mixed expression on his face.

"The situation is still not optimistic. The maximum instantaneous temperature can reach 10 million Kelvin, but the lowest is only about 500,000 Kelvin."

Flipping through the experiment report in his hand, Lu Zhou frowned.

"Is the deviation that big?"

Sheng Xianfu nodded solemnly: "The temperature changes observed through black body radiation are quite unstable. I don't know if there is a problem with our observation methods, or some other reason."

If the collapse of each bubble can reach a high temperature of 10 million Kelvin, taking into account factors such as volume shrinkage, it is still possible to stabilize the fusion reaction by means of pulse ignition.

Unfortunately, at present, it seems difficult to do so.

Lu Zhou continued to ask: "What about the neutron proliferation rate?"

Sheng Xianfu hesitated for a moment: "It has improved...but it is still far from stable and controllable fusion."

Lu Zhou pondered for a while, and asked, "How is the preparation of the new experimental container?"

Sheng Xianfu: "The nuclear industry group has already completed it, and it will probably be delivered tomorrow."

Hearing this sentence, the expression on Lu Zhou's face finally eased a bit.

Putting the experiment report on the table, he ordered.

"That's all for today's experiment, check the equipment tomorrow. Wait until the day after tomorrow, and directly add liquid lithium."

Sheng Xianfu nodded with a serious expression.

"Yes!"

As Lu Zhou predicted through calculations, when using liquid lithium with a lighter density as the working liquid, its performance in sonoluminescence indeed surpassed that of concentrated sulfuric acid and aqueous solution. Especially when the mixed gas of deuterium and tritium is introduced, the sound pressure acting on the surface of the bubbles increases significantly, reaching a maximum of 31.7 times the atmospheric pressure.

However, the liquid lithium that works in an environment of 700 degrees Celsius is still too active after all, and the experiment is several times more dangerous than when using concentrated sulfuric acid.

Especially in the third experiment, because the operator inadvertently mixed a small amount of oxygen when electrolyzing heavy water and super heavy water to prepare a deuterium-tritium mixed gas, a string of flames suddenly burst into the container when the gas was introduced.

Fortunately, the dose of oxygen mixed in was not large, and several researchers in the laboratory responded in a timely manner, and the laboratory was rescued without any danger. If it really melts through the working container, causing the high-temperature liquid lithium in the container to directly contact the air, let alone a laboratory, I am afraid that the collapse of several load-bearing walls will be light...

In short, since then, the entire Institute for Advanced Study looked at Sheng Xianfu in a different way...

Time passed day by day, and soon it was the day of the interview.

In the office of Jinling University School of Mathematics, Lu Zhou met the interview team of CTV.

It's quite a coincidence that the reporter who was in charge of interviewing him had only met him a few years ago.

"Hello, Professor Lu," with a professional smile on her face, He Ying, who was wearing a dark blue business attire, stretched out her right hand and shook Lu Zhou lightly, and said in a pleasant voice, "We meet again .”

Letting go of her hand, Lu Zhou smiled and nodded.

"Long time no see, Miss He... shall we start now?"

He Ying smiled and nodded, "Let's start now."

Knowing that Lu Zhou is usually busy with research, she didn't waste time on pleasantries, and quickly brought the interview to the point.

After sitting down on the sofa, He Ying adjusted her sitting posture, signaled the photographer next to her to start, then continued to change her professional smile, looked at Lu Zhou and said, "It's a great honor to have this opportunity to interview you. Before the interview begins, I would like to ask you a few questions on behalf of the audience in front of the TV."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Ask, as long as I know and can tell, I will know everything."

He Ying bent her lips and said, "Don't worry, it's not a difficult question."

After speaking, she paused, and continued to speak: "We all know that the problem of the mass gap in the Yang-Mills equation has been solved, and the unification of strong interaction and electromagnetic interaction will completely change the future of physics. However, for most To me, this kind of abstraction just makes people feel confused. How do you see the future of physics?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Is it such a difficult question from the beginning?"

He Ying pursed her lips and smiled and said, "It's difficult for others, but it shouldn't be difficult for you, right?"

"From the perspective of a scholar, regarding the future of theoretical physics... I really don't know how to answer this question. After all, no one knows whether a new physics will be born tomorrow." Speaking of this, Lu Zhou thought for a while , continued, "In the long run, what theoretical physicists have pursued all their lives is naturally a grand unified theory. Now that the strong interaction and electromagnetic interaction have successfully established a bridge, the rest is gravity. Of course, about This part of gravity is also something we know very little about. Maybe after a century, we can only understand a little bit."

He Ying asked seriously: "Is there no conclusion about the cause of gravity?"

Lu Zhou: "Of course, gravity is probably the most mysterious field in physics. Although we may feel it more intuitively than the other three fundamental forces, we know the least about it. Even string theory and loop quantum The theory of gravitation explains the reason for its birth from two diametrically opposed paths, but until today, no one can say with certainty which of them is correct."

He Ying continued to ask: "What about a more realistic goal?"

Leaning on the sofa, Lu Zhou thought for a while and said, "A more realistic, or short-to-medium-term goal, is naturally the verification and exploration of the Standard Model. Although the Standard Model is great enough, through theoretical research and some Experimenting, we can always find something that exists outside of the Standard Model."

Speaking of this, Lu Zhou paused for a moment, and said in a joking tone: "For example, the m-particle. Although I don't know what it looks like, I can prove that it does exist through mathematical methods. If someone can find it, we will A new piece of the puzzle can be added to the standard model building."

He Ying: "That sounds very exciting."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Of course, exploring the unknown itself is an exciting thing."

He Ying: "However, having said that, theoretical physics is still a very distant existence for most of us. Could you please explain to us that the research of theoretical physics has a great impact on our society and our society? What visible and visible impacts can civilization have?"

Lu Zhou thought about this question for a long time.

Just when He Ying began to wonder if she had asked some inconvenient questions and was about to ask the photographer to cut this paragraph, Lu Zhou suddenly spoke.

"This is a very abstract proposition. It's hard for me to tell you what effect a certain theoretical physics discovery can produce that ordinary people can see. It's like the Higgs particle, gravitational waves, and so on. Most of the things you find or get from the universe you are in are useless to ordinary people."

"Even including the m-particles I mentioned earlier, even if we further unify the four fundamental forces on the basis of the unified theory of strong electricity and the unified theory of weak electricity, this universe will not change anything because of us. Perhaps Using funds for exploring theoretical physics to improve lives can indeed feed more people within a certain period of time and make our lives better."

Having said that, Lu Zhou paused for a moment, then continued in a serious tone.

"However, we won't have any future without people doing things that are deemed useless."