Chapter 186: Do you need to reflect on this?
Liu Zhaoyuan from the Computing Institute learned about the news about an hour later than Lu Yanxiang.
It's not that Liu Zhaoyuan is not well-informed enough. Mainly because the computing institute has been very busy recently.
In fact, the work at the Institute of Computing Technology has always been busier than the work at the Academy of Sciences. There is no way this is all more pragmatic computing work.
The impatient Party A wants to call several times a week to urge her.
This was also the reason why Professor Liu from the Institute of Computing Technology and Ma Botao from the Institute of Materials Science were unhappy.
There is no way. Those engaged in scientific research believe that their own projects are the most important, and other people's projects are a waste of the country's few research funds.
Well, no matter what you think in your heart, you must say this to the outside world. Over time, I began to believe it.
The specific manifestation is that when there is nothing to do, you will find that the computing institute is helping others to do things. If you don't help yourself to do things, you will feel that you are not doing your job properly.
Obviously this does make many mathematicians engaged in auxiliary calculations feel uncomfortable. Naturally, when I receive a call from someone like Ma Botao who is engaged in material research, I don’t have a good attitude.
And for those who engage in computational mathematics, they don’t care that much about mathematical theory.
After all, computational mathematics is more concerned with the application of mathematics in practical problems and the implementation of algorithms. After all, they face real-life problems every day.
As for theoretical completeness or abstract logical beauty, those are things that only those who engage in theory like to pay attention to.
So no one specifically called Liu Zhaoyuan to tell him this.
But now all the elite soldiers and generals have become Qiao Yu's "fans".
There are specialties in the arts, and there are priorities in learning the Tao. There is a tradition of worshiping talented people who are engaged in technology at the front line.
After dinner in the evening, he heard about this incident when he called the technical backbone who was still working overtime to the office to inquire about the calculation progress of the moon landing plan.
"Qiao Yu claims to have solved the Riemann Hypothesis?"
"Yeah, you don't know yet? It's almost spread all over the Internet!"
Well, this sentence is actually a bit exaggerated.
It can only be said that it has spread within a small area. After all, it has only been two or three hours since the paper was published on arXiv.
But it's not too exaggerated. After all, even they already knew the news.
Many big names in mathematics announced the news on their accounts on their respective social platforms. For example, Tao Xuanzhi posted relevant content on his blog and announced that he had agreed to become a member of the joint review panel of the paper.
Although in most cases, well-known journals use double-blind or single-blind review methods. But obviously this kind of paper is not applicable to proving the Riemann Hypothesis.
In addition, Qiao Yu has already published the paper on arXiv, so this time he directly used a combination of public review and international discussion, or mathematical community verification.
Just like Lot Dugan is doing. Twelve top experts in the field were directly invited for a public joint review.
Under this model, there is no anonymity between the author and the jury members, because as Lot Dugan and Qiao Yu said, the two parties need frequent direct academic communication.
Qiao Yu kept communication open at all times to answer any questions raised by the jury members regarding the details of the proof of the paper, ensuring that any details were clearly explained.
This review model naturally does not require reviewers to keep their identities confidential. The advantage of this is that it can not only greatly shorten the time for reviewing the paper, but also ensure that there are no problems in judging the details of the paper.
Whether it is Perelman's proof of the Poincaré conjecture or Wiles' proof of Fermat's last theorem, they are actually similar verification models.
The former's proof was verified by multiple international research teams for three years. Wiles' proof also went through a long period of community review and revision.
Of course, there is a reason why the verification time of these two papers is relatively long.
The proof process of the former can be said to be full of twists and turns. Many people, including Mr. Yuan, believe that the proof of Perelman's early work was not too detailed and too simple to be accepted.
Many key steps are briefly mentioned or skipped, and the details are not fully developed. These international research teams have made many additions to Perelman's work.
As for Wiles's proof, he used an obvious one, but apparently the one he used was not that obvious.
And it just so happened that that was obviously a key step. He needed a completely new technique to complete the structural derivation of what was later called the Euler system.
The review team found a logical flaw in this step, so Wiles spent a year and a half dealing with this "obvious" problem, but fortunately he succeeded in the end.
Obviously, in a certain sense, this review mode is far more rigorous than double-blind or single-blind review. Countless pairs of eyes around the world are staring at the paper and the reviewers, ensuring that no logical loophole in the paper can be missed.
In addition, those engaged in scientific research have easier access to information from the outside than ordinary people. So it's not surprising that people who follow Qiao Yu can learn about this news.
Of course, when these fell into Liu Zhaoyuan's ears, he really didn't know how to evaluate them.
Although he is not a theorist, he naturally knows how important the Riemann Hypothesis is.
So he couldn't help but wonder, he had promised to contribute to computational mathematics and build a cross-century computing platform to solve problems for everyone. Now that the money has been collected, what does it mean to turn around and prove the Riemann Hypothesis?
What is this? !
Damn it, could it be that because the application from the Natural Science Foundation was not approved, we just used their money to complete this certificate?
Well, Liu Zhaoyuan sent away the guy who was called to report the work, and logged into arXiv on the computer.
No way, computational mathematics is also mathematics. Anyone who studies mathematics will probably be interested in this paper. I want to see if this paper is serious or not.
After all, this is not the first time someone has claimed to have proved the Riemann Hypothesis. There was a knight who claimed to have proved this problem of the century, but he ended up making a huge joke to the whole world.
Just like this, I downloaded the paper and studied it, and it was evening before I knew it.
After finally reading the paper, Liu Zhaoyuan felt that his mind was empty... To be honest, he didn't quite understand it.
If Qiao Yu knew Liu Zhaoyuan's method of reading papers, he would probably sneer at it. Then teach him some tips.
When reading a paper, don’t just read the paper. You definitely can’t understand it.
Instead, when you find that you don't understand the first lemma, you should take the initiative to turn to the last page to find the citing documents. Then read through all the cited documents first, and then read this paper after you understand them all.
If you can’t even understand the documents cited in this paper, then go ahead and read the documents cited in the cited documents first...
As long as you persist in doing this, no matter how obscure the paper is, you will eventually be able to understand it!
In fact, Qiao Yu has always done this when reading papers. As long as you can't understand it, go to the superior literature until you understand the original paper. This often also means directly understanding the entire research direction.
Just like when Qiao Yu studied Langlands Conjecture and P-geometry, he read almost all the early papers and works of Langlands and Peter Schulz...
It's a pity that Liu Zhaoyuan obviously doesn't have the patience or the time. Although Qiao Yu's paper cites not many documents, there are also works included.
And they are all about pure number theory. Back then, if he was really interested in this aspect of knowledge, he would not choose to do calculations.
But to be honest, Liu Zhaoyuan was not optimistic about Qiao Yu's paper. Because even including the pages of acknowledgments and literature citations, it is only thirty-eight pages.
It’s not surprising that a mathematics paper is thirty-eight pages long, but a paper that solves the Riemann Hypothesis is only thirty-eight pages long, which Liu Zhaoyuan feels is unrealistic.
Even if the paper is really valuable it probably doesn't have enough details.
His doctoral thesis at that time was more than seventy pages long. It’s twice as long as this paper!
After reading the paper, Liu Zhaoyuan rubbed his eyes and looked at the time. Before I knew it, it was already ten o'clock in the evening.
In other words, although he didn't understand much, he spent three hours on this paper.
Then he sat at his desk and thought for a moment, considering whether to call Yu Yanjiang. You, the big boss, have taken the lead in developing a computing platform, but others are doing theoretical research, so you have to say something, right?
It's not that Qiao Yu can't study these, but things always have priorities. It’s okay to build the computing platform first and then do all the fancy research.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter whether the Riemann Hypothesis is proven sooner or later. So many top mathematicians around the world have been working on this problem for many years, but they still have no results?
I picked up my phone and was just about to make a call to complain, when I noticed a lot of WeChat messages flashing through the notification bar.
I clicked on a WeChat group and took a look, and sure enough everyone was talking about Qiao Yu's paper.
However, what was being discussed did attract Liu Zhaoyuan's attention.
"I'm sure the article has been submitted to the Annual Journal of Mathematics. Go and take a look. Princeton has officially announced the reviewer lineup for Qiao Yu's paper. They are twelve gods!"
"Look, I said it was definitely not a joke this time. When the reviewer team is announced at this time, many reviewers must have already read the paper roughly. If you really feel that the degree of completion is not high, you will definitely not accept this Review.”
"No way? Does this paper really solve the Riemann Hypothesis? Doesn't that mean that Qiao Yu is qualified to win the Fields Medal this year?"
"It also depends on how long the review takes and the final review result, right? A rough reading does not represent the final result."
“The review of Perelman’s paper took three years!”
"But back then, Perelman uploaded three papers to arXiv alone, and they were more than 200 pages long. Qiao Yu's paper only had 38 pages. The review shouldn't take that long, right?"
This work is compiled and uploaded by Liujiu Book Bar~~
……
Seeing a group of people who didn't study the Riemann Hypothesis at all arguing so fiercely, Liu Zhaoyuan couldn't help but roll his eyes.
However, the announcement of the reviewer lineup on Princeton's official website still attracted him, and he subconsciously opened Princeton's official website.
After all, this situation is very rare. After all, whether the reviewers of a paper are disclosed requires the consent of the reviewers.
This can only be done if the reviewer is willing to be transparent with the public. Of course, this is a major event in mathematics related to the paper. Otherwise, it would be impossible to play like this.
Even for the seven millennium problems, Liu Zhaoyuan thinks that only the Riemann Hypothesis, NP problem and mass gap hypothesis can get this treatment.
Although Perelman's original review process was not officially announced, the identities of all verification teams were also public.
So it can only be said to be a special case that has been around for a long time.
Soon, Liu Zhaoyuan saw the content of the official announcement.
"Princeton University and Annals of Mathematics would like to announce that Dr. Qiao Yu's paper on the Riemann Hypothesis has passed preliminary screening and is currently undergoing rigorous peer review.
This paper aims to solve the Riemann Hypothesis, which is considered a core problem in number theory and even the entire mathematical community. Due to the historical importance of the issue and the potential impact of the paper, the review process will strictly adhere to the most rigorous academic standards.
We are honored to announce that the following review team, composed of 12 mathematicians from the world's top academic institutions, is conducting an in-depth review and verification of this paper. These reviewers have outstanding achievements in related fields such as analytic number theory, complex analysis, algebraic geometry, spectral theory and modular forms..."
Following are the names of twelve people and their brief introductions.
Among them, there are eight Fields Medal winners, 11 Wolf Prize winners, seven Abel Prize winners, five Clay Mathematics Prize winners, as well as all Steele Prize winners, and ICM special speakers...
This list also means that although the review team only has twelve people, there must be more than these twelve reviewers.
After all, behind each of these names represents a top mathematical research team. Rather than saying that the names listed are reviewers, most of them are symbolic responsible persons.
Behind these top mathematicians are many PhDs, postdocs, and collaborators. After reviewing this manuscript, some people from the team will definitely be selected to work together.
This means that the reviewer team consists of twelve scientists, but the actual number of reviewers may be more than fifty, or even more.
Don't ask Liu Zhaoyuan how he knew it. After all, if he really encountered an important paper for him to review, he would definitely arrange it this way.
Liu Zhaoyuan probably also understood the reason why Princeton Mathematical Annals did this. The official announcement of the list of reviewers means that the entire relevant academic network may become reviewers.
After all, Qiao Yu's paper has been posted to arXiv. This means that every colleague who studies the Riemann Hypothesis can become an invisible reviewer.
If these uninvited mathematicians find any problems in the paper, they will definitely email their ideas to reviewers they know.
There is no shortage of skeptics in academia. Any paper that claims to solve the world's problems will attract these people, and then use the most demanding eyes to look for possible logical loopholes in it.
Of course there is a disclaimer at the end:
"Princeton University and the Annals of Mathematics would like to reiterate that the review and verification process of the paper has not yet been completed, and the participation of the review team does not constitute an endorsement or endorsement of the correctness of the paper.
Any further information updates will be officially released via the Princeton University website and the Annals of Mathematics website. ”
Well, after reading this paragraph, Liu Zhaoyuan felt that Princeton probably had the purpose of promoting the "Annals of Mathematics".
It seems that the four major mathematics journals can no longer satisfy the editorial board of Annals of Mathematics. Maybe they hope that the four major mathematics journals will be changed into one super four...
But in any case, the release of this statement at this time is enough to show that at least a dozen top experts do not believe that there are obvious loopholes in Qiao Yu's paper after roughly reading it.
In other words, is it possible that the thirty-eight-page paper really proves the Riemann Hypothesis?
Solving this level of mathematical problems at the age of seventeen is the reincarnation of Gauss, right?
It is said that when Gauss was ten years old, he discovered the common sum of the first N terms of any arithmetic sequence. At the age of sixteen, he proposed the prototype of the prime number theorem. At the age of eighteen, he proved the law of quadratic reciprocity. At the age of nineteen, he solved the problem of graphing polygons in positive periods...< br>
Qiao Yu is not far behind. At the age of 16, he found out the errors in the geometric Langlands conjecture and proved it. He proposed the generalized modal axiom system and reduced the initial interval of prime number pairs to 6. At the age of 17, he developed an efficient computing system and by the way proved Riemann. Guess...
Once again, it has been shown to the world that mathematics is a subject that relies on talent and does not make any sense at all.
Diligence and hard work may help you learn most knowledge in the world, except mathematics...
Otherwise, there is no way to explain why someone in his teens could solve a problem that a group of legendary mathematicians could not conquer in their lifetime.
Liu Zhaoyuan was filled with emotions in his mind when the phone suddenly rang.
I picked it up casually and saw that it was a call from Yu Yanjiang.
Just now he wanted to call this big boss, but he couldn't help it.
Well, he decided to follow the boss's words and criticize Qiao Yu for not doing business!
So what if the claim to have solved the Riemann Hypothesis caused a collective earthquake in the mathematical community? Now they are Party A!
As soon as the call was connected, the big boss on the other side started to investigate.
"Liu Zhaoyuan, let me ask you, can your calculation office work?!"
One sentence made Liu Zhaoyuan stunned for a long time.
"No, Chief Engineer Yu? I don't quite understand what you mean by this. What do you mean by calculating whether something works or not?"
"Don't you understand this? Do you understand that Qiao Yu claimed to have proved the Riemann Hypothesis?"
"Yes, I just knew that I was still right before..."
"Don't say so much. I just called Tian Yanzhen. I asked him whether Qiao Yu took our project to heart. What do you think he said?"
"Huh? What else can he say?"
"He said that your calculations were incompetent and the verification was too slow, which delayed the progress of the project. Qiao Yu had nothing to do and proved his previous work. It's not that people don't trust our project, it's that your efficiency is too low. !
I thought that what Tian Yanzhen said made sense. After all, people are almost done with computing software now. Just waiting for you to quickly test and give feedback, but it turns out that your efficiency is so low that people still have time to think about this kind of world-wide problem? Liu Zhaoyuan, does your computing institute need to do some soul-searching? ”
Liu Zhaoyuan: "???"
(End of chapter)