It wasn’t just the mathematics community that was in a heated debate.
After the collapse of the arXiv server, the news that the ABC conjecture was proven soon spread from the mathematics circle to the entire college circle, then to the entire internet.
In less than a day, whether it was Weibo or Twitter, whether it was WeChat or Facebook, almost everyone was discussing this matter.
“I heard that the ABC conjecture has been solved?”
“What the hell? Solved?! What’s going on!”
“Already? It must be wrong, right?”
“No… It seems to be true. I heard that the LSPM research team did it; the team led by Academician Lu. They uploaded the preprint of the paper on arXiv yesterday and took down the server for an entire day.”
“Oh! So this is why the arXiv website was down! I thought it was due to maintenance. I couldn’t find the computer science papers I was looking for!”
“Jesus f*ck, one paper taking down the entire library, is it that nutty?”
“It’s probably impossible for other people. After all, the value of preprints is generally not high. People are still more willing to wait for the published version, but, this paper was compiled by Academician Lu… Based on past experience, his preprints are almost the same as published papers.”
“Wait, the ABC conjecture has been solved. Does it mean that we can answer the question raised by the extraterrestrial civilization?”
“It seems like so… The second dialogue with the extraterrestrial civilization should have been arranged already!”
Everyone remembered the press conference half a month ago and the recording of the dialogue at the press conference by the spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Proving the ABC conjecture meant being recognized by another intelligent civilization!
It meant mastering the key to open the door for dialogue!
Although there were some people who had security concerns and thought this was a trap from the alien civilization, whether it was the group that supported contact or the group that was against contact, they had reached a consensus on one thing.
Which was that displaying the achievements of human civilization was helpful for a friendly exchange between the two sides.
After all, if they wanted to communicate with another civilization on an equal footing, they must at least show their own merits as intelligent creatures.
If the other party was a primitive civilization that couldn’t even do arithmetic, most human countries would not adopt a cautious and respectful attitude to communicate with them.
While netizens all over the world were excitedly discussing the upcoming second dialogue, governments of various countries were also shocked by the sudden news.
North America.
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington.
A confidential document was placed on the desk of the President’s office.
The President stared at the document with a frown for a long time. He finally raised his head after reading the document. He looked at the Chief of Staff standing at the desk and spoke slowly.
“So… The ABC conjecture has been solved?”
He couldn’t understand the complicated proof process and didn’t care either.
He only wanted to know one thing, which was how reliable this proof was.
“Yes…” The Chief of Staff nodded his head with a heavy expression and said quickly, “According to our specially appointed mathematical science consultant, the whole proof process is legitimate. The research team organized by the Pentagon has the same opinion. And putting these things aside, based on past experience, Lu Zhou only uploads a paper if he is certain that it is without mistakes.”
In fact, China wasn’t the only one that offered an award for solving the ABC conjecture.
Ever since the state of China publicized some of the dialogue recordings at the press conference, almost all countries in the world that were slightly influential in mathematics had mobilized their administrative power to a certain extent, to promote domestic mathematicians to study the ABC conjecture.
Everyone wanted to be the first to complete the proof of the ABC conjecture and use it as a bargaining chip to gain more benefits for their country. Whoever could take the lead in finding the key to converse with the extraterrestrial civilization would undoubtedly gain more power.
The chief of staff looked at the silent President and reminded him.
“Now that the Chinese have obtained the power of conversing with the extraterrestrial civilization, if we continue to delay the issue of liaison institutions for extraterrestrial civilizations, they are likely to bypass us and contact each other individually. We could be in a more passive situation than we are now.”
He frowned at the map on the wall.
After pondering for a long time, the President’s eyebrows loosened slightly, and he spoke in a deep voice.
“We have to agree to them.”
On the other hand, on the other side of the Atlantic, similar conversations were also taking place.
An invitation letter was sent from the 10th Downing Street to the Chinese Embassy in London. A Chinese diplomat’s car was parked at the entrance of the Elysee Palace. A high-level diplomatic meeting was in progress in the Kremlin in Eastern Europe. The cabinet sent an invitation for a high-level discussion to neighboring countries across the sea.
The global political arena tightened their nerves because of the proof of a mathematical conjecture…
…
North Rhine, Germany.
University of Bonn.
“I have read the paper.” Faltings said to Schultz, “Let me guess, at least 50% of it was done by Lu Zhou… right?”
“Sixty percent, to be precise.” Schultz sat on the couch in the office and said, “It’s not an exaggeration to say that, without him, we would still be worrying about how to tackle the problem or be stuck on a trivial matter… Anyway, you should have read the paper, what do you think about the proof?”
Faltings looked at Schultz with a sore smile on his face. He took a sip of coffee and spoke casually.
“I can’t find any mistakes.”
So there aren’t any mistakes?
Schultz thought proudly in his mind.
It’s a rare sight to receive a compliment from Faltings.
Faltings frowned as he thought of the question he had planned to ask earlier. His frown disappeared as he casually asked, “I noticed that the special expression he used when describing the ABC conjecture is very interesting… How did you guys come up with it in such a short time?”
“According to Lu Zhou’s own words, he used anabelian geometry, but Mochizuki himself firmly denies this. He believes that there is no connection between the two, and Mochizuki himself is the one who was inspired. I plan to go back and polish my theory.” Schultz scratched his head and said, “I heard that Chinese people have the habit of being humble. Anyway, I think Lu Zhou just thought of it himself.”
Just thought of it himself.
Faltings’ eyebrows twitched for a second.
Unless it was Riemann’s hypothesis, which even Professor Grothendieck felt was difficult, he would never express his praise toward someone solving a problem.
“There is no doubt that the proof of the ABC conjecture itself is correct, but the method you guys used is worthy of in-depth study,” Professor Faltings said as he put down the coffee cup on the table.
After pausing for a few seconds, he continued, “There is one more thing I have to tell you.”
Schultz: “What?”
After organizing the thoughts in his mind, Faltings said, “Ms. Karicek came here yesterday.”
Schultz was taken aback for a moment. He frowned and asked, “Ms. Karicek?”
Faltings: “The Federal Minister of Education and Research. You probably don’t know her, I am not interested in who she is either… Just think of her as someone who allocates funding to the University of Bonn and the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics.”
The confusion in Schultz’s heart grew bigger and bigger.
“What are the federal bureaucrats doing here?”
Why are they interested in mathematics?
For some reason, Schultz suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart.
Professor Faltings shrugged his shoulders and said casually, “It’s related to your paper… Whether your contribution was 10% or 20%, you were part of the reason for the ABC conjecture proof.”
He paused for a second and continued, “In short, she hopes you can represent Germany…
“To go to Mars.”
Schultz: “…?”
