Chapter 252 Sterile Neutrinos
On the tenth day after New Year's Day in 2019, NTU's 18-year annual outstanding person selection event also began.
Taking time out in advance, Xu Chuan, dressed in formal attire, returned to his alma mater to participate in this important event for universities.
In fact, most colleges and universities have awards ceremonies like Person of the Year.
Those who can win awards at this kind of award ceremony are either top academics, or students who started their own business in school or have made certain achievements.
For students, this award is actually very good and has high gold content. At least, this certificate can bring you a lot of improvement when you find a job after graduation, and many companies recognize it.
He also won this award when he was a freshman. The bonus was 15,000 yuan. Although it was not much, for a student, the money was pretty good.
Whether it is used as living expenses or to do something you like, it is enough.
In addition to the bonus, what is more important is the honor behind the bonus.
You must know that the annual outstanding person selection event covers three groups: 'college students + graduate students + doctoral students'.
Considering the size of NTU, there are almost 40,000 students in the main school and its branches. The significance of standing out among these 40,000 students is far beyond what the bonus can describe.
Just like the Fields Medal, although its prize money is only 15,000 Canadian dollars, the meaning behind this medal cannot be compared to 150 million Canadian dollars.
Like last year, this year NTU has selected ten people of the year.
After arriving at the school, Xu Chuan first said hello to his tutor Chen Zhengping, Professor Zhou Hai of the School of Mathematics and other acquaintances, and chatted for a while outside the auditorium. Then, he was received by the staff and went to the podium to take his seat at the award-giving guest seat.
When Xu Chuan appeared on the podium, there was a commotion in the auditorium.
None of the students who came to attend the award ceremony expected that this legendary god would appear here.
There were rustling sounds in the auditorium, and some students even raised their mobile phones to take pictures.
Regarding this scene, the college leaders and professors at the awards table all smiled.
This one is still popular.
For NTU to produce such a top scholar is not only an honor for the school, but also a blessing for NTU.
At ten o'clock in the morning, the selection of outstanding figures in 2018 officially began.
Looking at these young faces, Xu Chuan sighed inwardly.
Once upon a time, he was among this group of people, and now, he is standing on the stage to give them awards.
I have to say that time flies by so fast, four or five years have passed in the blink of an eye.
The first person to take the stage to receive the award was a graduate student from the Department of Physics.
As one of NTU's top majors, the achievements of this graduate student named 'Pan Xinghai' are outstanding even among a group of top academics.
He has participated as a main member in many scientific research projects at the national level, senior officials and enterprises and institutions commissioned projects.
During his university + postgraduate period, he published a total of six SCI papers in well-known international journals such as PhysicalReviewX and PhysicalReviewB.
Among them, three SCI Area 1 journal papers are included as the first author, and one SCI Area 1 journal article is included as the second author (authored by the tutor). The total impact factor of the included papers exceeds 30 points.
Such achievements, when applied to a graduate student, can be said to be the best among top academics~the most evil academic.
But for such a monster, when he was called to the stage by the host, his face was full of excitement.
"Congratulations, classmate Pan."
On the podium, Xu Chuan, who was invited to present the award, took the certificate and medal from the hands of the etiquette staff with a smile and handed them to the graduate student wearing thick black-rimmed glasses in front of him.
"God of Sichuan!"
Taking the award certificate with slightly trembling hands, the top student in the Department of Physics held Xu Chuan's hand with both hands with excitement on his face.
Xu Chuan coughed in embarrassment and said, "Forget it about the God of Sichuan. It sounds awkward. I am a professor at the school. Just call me Professor Xu."
Pan Xinghai nodded excitedly and said quickly: "Okay, Professor Chuan."
The corner of Xu Chuan's mouth moved. The God of Chuan was gone. What the hell is this Professor Chuan? Why not call him Professor Xu or Professor?
But he didn't say anything, smiled and patted classmate Pan on the arm.
Speaking of which, this classmate Pan is a bit older than him. He seems to be in his mid-twenties this year.
"Professor Chuan, can you please sign your autograph for me?" Pan Xinghai asked with excitement and caution, just like a fanatical fan seeing his idol.
Xu Chuan smiled and nodded, groped around his body, and found that he did not bring a pen and asked: "Of course, but did you bring a pen and paper?"
Hearing this, Pan Xinghai was stunned for a moment, then quickly groped around on his body, and shook his head in frustration: "No."
He didn't expect that his idol would appear at today's award ceremony, so he didn't bring pen and paper with him.
Although there was it in the schoolbag under the stage, it was too late to go down and get it.
Just as he was regretting missing out on signing this time, the etiquette staff on the side walked up silently, handed Xu Chuan a pen and a notebook, and said softly:
"Professor Xu, just sign this. This book can be given to the winners. We have prepared one for everyone here."
Seeing this, Pan Xinghai was stunned for a moment, and his eyes brightened instantly.
NTU is indeed his alma mater, he thought of it all!
sharp!
Opposite me, Xu Chuan was also stunned for a moment, but then he smiled and took the pen and paper from the opponent's hand, turned over the first page, and wrote on it:
"I hope that in your future journey, you will have stars and sea in your eyes, thousands of hills and valleys in your chest, and blooming flowers in your heart - Xuchuan."
After writing a sentence in his notebook, Xu Chuan smiled and handed the notebook in his hand to the winner in front of him.
"Thank you, thank you Professor!" Pan Xinghai excitedly held Xu Chuan's hand again. It was obvious that the words above were written for him alone!
From today on, this sentence is exclusive to him! His motto!
Xu Chuan smiled, took out his hand without leaving a trace, and said with a smile: "Come on."
"I will." Classmate Pan Xinghai nodded excitedly, hesitated for a moment and then continued: "Well, um, Professor Chuan, will you still accept doctoral students?"
Xu Chuan said with a smile: "I'm afraid not for the time being. I have a lot of things on my hands recently and don't have time to take care of students."
Hearing this, a hint of disappointment suddenly flashed in Pan Xinghai's eyes. This was probably a tactful rejection, but he was not discouraged and continued to ask: "Well, Professor Nachuan, can I ask for a reputable friend or contact information?" Xu Chuan: "."
In the end, Xu Chuan gave his prestige to this little fanboy. It is true that he will not accept students in the near future.
Not to mention the new students, he has not paid much attention to the two students he brought from Princeton recently. He doesn't know how they are doing in their studies, so he still needs to find an opportunity to evaluate them.
The second person to take the stage to receive the award was a doctoral student from the Department of Astronomy.
As another trump card major, NTU’s astronomy department is quite impressive, and no one would object to it being ranked number one among domestic universities.
This doctoral student also has a very impressive resume. While leading the team to win the gold medal in the CAIC competition co-sponsored by the Chinese Astronomical Society and the Astronomy Committee of the Educational College, he also has one SCI District II paper and three papers. SCI area three papers.
It should be known that water thesis in astronomy is quite difficult, especially when there is a general lack of large-scale astronomical facilities in China. It can be said that it is not easy for this student to still achieve such results.
What surprised Xu Chuan even more was that the winner was quite good at mathematics.
Among his three SCI Area III papers, two of them are related to mathematics, and one is related to the extended application of the Xu-Weyl-Berry theorem, which he previously won the Nobel Prize.
It has to be said that as his alma mater, NTU has done a good job in keeping up with the latest cutting-edge scientific theories.
The subject of computational astronomy was launched the year before last. Although it is currently only included in the minor of astronomy, it is already very good compared to other schools in the country that have not made much progress.
Like the previous classmate Pan, this classmate Zhou was also excited when he saw him. When he came up, he held his hand and said in surprising words: "I won't wash my hands for a week after shaking hands this time!"
Xu Chuan: "."
Staff on the side: "."
Fortunately, this classmate didn't have a microphone, otherwise he would have lost the first right to choose a spouse in front of thousands of people in the auditorium.
Following the previous process, Xu Chuan took the pen and paper from the etiquette staff, wrote words of encouragement on the first page, and then gave them to the winner.
In the cycle of asking for signatures, writing signatures, and awarding awards, this annual outstanding person selection event is quickly coming to an end.
It has to be said that as a top university in the country, NTU still has quite a lot of talents.
Each of the ten winners has impressive resumes. Xu Chuan also wrote in his notebook to wish them a bright future and greater achievements in their academic career.
At the invitation of the school leader, they had lunch together. To his surprise, he saw a familiar figure in the hotel.
"Long time no see, Senior Brother Lin Feng. How have you been lately?" In the restaurant of Jinling Hotel, Xu Chuan stepped forward with a smile and greeted Lin Feng.
The two of them had said goodbye last time in Princeton. After Senior Brother Lin and his little girlfriend chose to return to China, they had not seen each other for almost more than a year.
"Long time no see, Junior Brother Chuan!"
Seeing Xu Chuan, Lin Feng came up and gave him a warm hug: "Thanks to you, my life at CERN is pretty good."
"Just when chatting there, everyone's attention is often on you. For example, when introducing me, they will basically say, 'This is Professor Xu Chuan's fellow student at the same school.'"
"You don't know that you are really popular at CERN right now. Many people are studying the calculation method you came up with before. Including me, I also looked at it. Unfortunately, I am not very good at mathematics and I still can't figure it out."< br>
Xu Chuan smiled and said: "Speaking of CERN, I haven't been there for a while. It's really a nostalgic time."
Lin Feng said with a smile: "Now we are also a member of CERN, you can go at any time."
Xu Chuan shook his head, skipped the topic and asked: "I'm afraid I don't have time for the time being. What is CERN doing recently?"
He is still aware of CERN's research in 2018, but after he stepped in and changed some things in the past two years, he doesn't know if the arrangements there have changed.
Lin Feng shook his head and said: "It's still the same. ATLAS and CMS spend most of their time studying the Higgs boson, and the LHCb is looking for quarks."
"As for ALICE, I heard that they conducted a high-energy collision experiment some time ago to simulate the shape of the original universe after the Big Bang and analyze the properties of quark-gluon plasma."
"But it seems that their luck is not very good, and no discovery has been reported so far."
Hearing this, Xu Chuan's heart moved and he asked: "Has China participated in the ALICE experiment?"
If it weren't for Lin Feng, he would have almost forgotten one thing.
2018 was the year when he became famous in the physics world in his previous life. The reason for this was the discovery of traces of the existence of sterile neutrinos at CERN.
Neutrino, also called neutrino, is a type of lepton and one of the most basic particles that make up nature.
They are small, uncharged, and can freely pass through the earth. Their spin is 1/2 and their mass is very light. Some are less than one millionth of an electron. They move at close to the speed of light and interact very weakly with other matter. Known as the "invisible man" in the universe.
It took the physics community more than twenty years from predicting its existence to discovering it.
On November 23, 2013, scientists used a particle detector buried under the Antarctic ice to capture high-energy neutrinos originating from outside the solar system for the first time.
As of today, the physics community has confirmed that there are three different types of neutrinos discovered: electron neutrinos, muon neutrinos and tau neutrinos.
However, in 1995, the United States' LSND experiment proposed the "possible" existence of a fourth type of neutrino - sterile neutrinos.
Sterile neutrinos are another state of neutrinos, which involves some relationships between particles.
Ordinary neutrinos are also called active neutrinos. The concept was first proposed by Austrian theoretical physicist Wolfgang Pauli.
They are almost everywhere and can be produced in the Big Bang, galactic activity, supernova explosions, in the center of the Sun and inside the Earth, as well as in nuclear reactors and particle accelerators.
Sterile neutrinos are hypothetical particles that have no reliable experimental evidence. They were first proposed by Italian theoretical physicist Bruno Pontikov around 1968.
It refers to neutrinos that do not participate in the standard weak interaction process and are therefore generally understood as new types of particles beyond the third generation lepton framework of the Standard Model.
Compared with ordinary active neutrinos, the discovery of sterile neutrinos is also related to another cosmic substance-dark matter!
Because theoretically, it does not participate in any interaction except gravity, and is a candidate for warm dark matter.
If we can find the existence of sterile neutrinos, we can prove the existence of dark matter in the universe.
This is of great significance to the physics world.
(End of chapter)