Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The clock on the wall was quietly ticking.
An hour ago, Frank Wilczek was sitting with perfect posture, staring at the image on the computer screen. He sat there motionlessly.
Suddenly, his office door opened.
Professor Wilczek saw Witten enter his office. He finally raised his head by an inch. However, when he was about to speak, Witten spoke first.
“I know you want to ask me what Professor Lu thinks, but I’m afraid I will disappoint you. Except for a conjecture about an extra dimension, he didn’t reveal anything to me.”
When Wilczek heard an unexpected word, he frowned.
“Extra dimension?”
An extra physical dimension was not a new concept. All dimensions derived by Einstein’s relativity equations could be called extra dimensions.
It was like Theodor Kaluza, who added a fifth dimension in order to explain gravity. Because of string theory, the value of dimensions had been increased to 13.
However, what puzzled Wilczek was why Witten and Lu Zhou were talking about this concept.
“Yes, he attributed the cause of the mass increase phenomenon to something that can not be proven.” Witten looked at Wilczek’s confused face. He then took out a lighter from his pocket and placed it on Wilczek’s desk. He said, “Assume that the universe is made from n-dimensional matter, just like this lighter.
“The disturbance that interfered with our experiment came from the n+1 dimension. It’s like my thumb as it presses on the lighter’s switch. Of course, this analogy might seem inaccurate, but in fact, it’s almost poetic… It’s as if there’s an almighty God living on dimension n+1, watching us, who are imprisoned in a box, and God is singing a beautiful song to us.”
Wilczek muttered to himself as he watched Witten pressing the lighter.
“This does sound… interesting.”
Witten put away the lighter and glanced at Wilczek in disbelief.
“Unbelievable… You actually find it interesting.”
“After all, Lu Zhou was the one who made this conjecture.” Wilczek shrugged and muttered, “When you analyze this problem from an objective perspective, you can’t prove him wrong, right? As far as the facts are concerned, we did see that when the collision energy reached 5.12 TeV, the mass had an incredible expansion. According to the calculations of lattice quantum chromodynamics, we should actually get a smaller total mass.”
Witten went silent.
After a while, he spoke.
“Let’s put this matter aside for the time being. The reason why I came here is not to discuss a theory that has not been perfected.”
Wilczek: “Then… why are you here?”
Witten: “What do you think about Professor Miro?”
“Miro?” Wilczek had never heard of this strange name. He frowned and asked, “Sorry, who is Miro?”
Seeing how Wilczek had never heard of the name, a strange look appeared on Witten’s face.
Witten reached out and picked up the remote control that was placed on the desk. He then turned on the hardly used office TV.
“Professor Galette Miro, a thirty-seven-year-old professor of physics at Stanford University, has served as a consultant for high-energy physics experiments in CERN and the ILHCRC and has won the American Physical Society Apker Award and the International Theoretical Physics Dirac Award…”
“So he’s a young man with a promising future.” Professor Wilczek watched the Fox News broadcast on the TV and asked, “What about him?”
“He’s also the leader of a new religion.” Witten pointed at the TV with his chin and pressed a few buttons on the remote control. He said, “It might be a bit troublesome to explain, so you should watch it yourself.”
…
Fox News.
At the studio.
A tall man with deep eye sockets was sitting on the sofa. He wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose and a normal plaid shirt. It was easy to spot him as a man who worked in science and engineering.
Sitting on the sofa opposite him was the host of a talk show on Fox News, Ms. Cordell.
Ms. Cordell looked at Professor Miro with a friendly smile on her face as she reached out with her microphone and began the interview.
“Hello, Professor Miro, thank you very much for coming to our studio. I heard that something very… very unbelievable happened recently in the physics world, is that true?”
“Yes.” Miro seemed like he was not quite used to the atmosphere here. He looked around awkwardly. But soon, he regained his composure and said in a confident tone, “You can say that it has subverted many of our understandings of physics.”
Ms. Cordell asked with a smile, “From the comments online, we can see that many viewers are concerned about this matter. We know that you are a professor of physics at Stanford University and a researcher at the ILHCRC. Maybe you can explain in detail to the audience in front of their TV screens… What amazing results did we get from the hadron collider?”
“A mass expansion happened at 5.12 TeV!”
Professor Miro had a passionate look in his eyes as Ms. Cordell asked, “Sorry, I don’t quite understand, what does this… mean?”
“This means that the quantity of mass energy as we know it might no longer be conserved!”
The professor’s eyes became increasingly energetic. His voice trembled with excitement as he continued, “Our foundation of physics was built on a flat wasteland. Through the exploration of the standard model, we have continued to repair this foundation and add bricks to it. Finally, we created a tall building!
“However a month ago, the latest research from the ILHCRC knocked this building to the ground!
“It’s a pity you were not there to witness this great experiment; otherwise, you will definitely understand why I am so excited!”
Professor Miro’s eyes were wide open and bloodshot because of his emotions, whereas Ms. Cordell had a surprised look on her face.
His words did not surprise her. Instead, she was surprised at his… abnormal mental state.
She heard the show director’s speaking through her headset and received confirmation to continue the interview.
She bit the bullet and continued the show.
“This sounds… somewhat amazing. In other words, they have proved that mass energy is not conserved?”
“It is not conserved on large scales! It seems that you don’t understand what this means. I’d be happy to explain to you clearly!”
Before the host lady could speak, Professor Miro continued to speak quickly.
“According to the view of traditional physics, our universe’s entropy is increasing. All matter develops from order to disorder. But now, this concept might be overturned! Our physics has finally entered a place even Einstein wasn’t able to predict. Our universe will no longer be an eternal decay; instead, it will go from an old cycle to a new cycle, forming a never-ending cycle!”
Professor Miro’s skinny body suddenly shook with enthusiasm.
He leaned forward and stared at Ms. Cordell, who had a trace of fear on her face. He spoke in a hoarse voice.
“Do you believe in God?”
Ms. Cordell was shocked by this question, and she quickly nodded.
“I do.”
“Maybe God exists… No, he definitely exists.”
Ms. Cordell looked at Professor Miro, who seemed to be crazy, and said, “What you mean is… Mass energy is no longer conserved forever, and the universe will not increase in entropy forever. Do these conclusions prove the existence of God?”
“God?” A scornful smile appeared on Professor Miro’s face. He leaned back on the sofa and said, “If that’s what you want to call it.
“In some sense, it is an omniscient and omnipotent being; it is everywhere and nowhere in the universe.
“It is like a ghost wandering in the universe, interfering with us through an invisible hand.
“Instead of using the childish title of God…
“I prefer to call it the spirit of the universe.”
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