I really just want to be a scholar

Chapter 873 once again illuminates the spark of inspiration for the prospect of a unified physics!

By the way, Professor Milorad Martins, the head of Fermilab, later sent an email to Qin Ke, saying that he had fulfilled his promise of recommendation-Professor Martins had lost a bet with Qin Ke. Professor Martins, who is convinced, once said that he is a member of the Marcel Grossmann Award Committee and will nominate Qin Ke and Ning Qingjun to the committee as candidates for this award.

——However, Professor Martins also sighed self-deprecatingly in the email. In fact, even if he did not recommend it, other committee members would recommend Qin Ke and his wife.According to his understanding, a total of 17 committee members recommended Qin Ke and Ning Qingyun as candidates for the Marcel Grossmann Award this time.

Finally, at the end of the email, Professor Martins expressed his congratulations to Qin Ke and expressed his willingness to become friends in physics.

Qin Ke also responded to the email to express his gratitude.

I won’t go into details about these chores one by one.

Considering that his father-in-law and mother-in-law left early the next morning, on the evening of May 5st, Qin Ke and his father Qin Yanghui cooked in person and prepared a rich farewell banquet. They also invited Mr. Qiu and his teacher, Academician Jiang Weixian , Academician Tian Jianlan, senior fellow student Xu Qingyan, and Academician Guo Weiyang came to the banquet.

Qin Ke and his son have carefully practiced cooking and cooking. Their level is not as good as that of star chefs, but they are more than enough to open a small restaurant, so they have naturally received various praises. Mr. Qiu also joked: "You can Eating dishes cooked by a double Nobel Prize winner and a Philippine Prize winner, how can it be regarded as super-national guest treatment?"

Everyone laughed, and the lively atmosphere diluted the hidden sadness of separation.

In the end, the dinner was very enjoyable. Ning Zongxun drank some white wine for the first time in a long time, and the conversation became more lively.

He first thanked Qin Ke and his son for their hospitality, and then praised the food for being full of memories of his hometown.

This was the first time that Qin Ke discovered that his father-in-law was still very eloquent, but his social skills were usually hidden behind his back, and most of the dealings with people were left to Ji Xiuyu, who was more skillful.

It is said that Ning Zongxun and his wife get along well with Qin Ke's parents. Although there is a huge gap in knowledge between the two, Ning Zongxun does not have the arrogance of a scholar, and Qin Yanghui has been in the world for a long time and is good at dealing with people. The new grandpa and grandpa can chat together.

Ji Xiuyu and Shen Qiuyi also had a good conversation about parenting. Ji Xiuyu, who has always pursued elite education, probably felt guilty thinking about her daughter's childhood, but she increasingly agreed with Shen Qiuyi's philosophy that "children should have a happy childhood."

As a senior chemistry professor, Shen Tieshan was able to chat with Ning Zongxun and his wife for a long time.

All in all, both parties did not let Qin Ke and his wife worry about getting along with their parents.

Of course, the two who had the best chat with Ning Zongxun and his wife were Jiang Weixian and Guo Weiyang, two great masters in fluid mechanics. Ning Zongxun and Ji Xiuyu had hardly been out this week, and even President Gu Bojun of Qingmu University only came to see them. During their time, Jiang Weixian and Guo Weiyang came frequently after work. Occasionally, the four of them would go to Qin Ke's study to chat for an hour or two. As for what they were talking about, even Qin Ke couldn't participate in it.

But Qin Ke actually knew the content of their conversation.

That night, Ji Xiuyu invited Ning Qingyun to sleep together in her room. What the mother and daughter talked about during this period is not open to outsiders. When Qin Ke asked about it later, Ning Qingyun just blushed and refused to answer, but later Qin Ke found that Ning Qingyun had become more open-minded about having sex behind closed doors, and was willing to cooperate with him in some new tricks. This must have been the "guidance" of his mother-in-law that night.

……

No matter how reluctant you are to leave, the time of separation will eventually come.

Ning Zongxun and Ji Xiuyu left on time at 6 a.m. on June 1 the next day.

Before leaving, Ji Xiuyu reluctantly kissed the cheeks of her two sleeping grandsons, and hugged her daughter Ning Qingjun firmly before resolutely turning around and quickly getting into the car parked outside the villa.

Ning Zongxun's eyes were also full of reluctance, but he didn't like to show his affection for his daughter. He just said to his daughter and son-in-law: "Jun'er, Xiaoke, take care of yourself, Xiaoxiao and Zhengzheng. Next time, when you have time, Xiuyu and I will come back to visit you again."

Looking at Ning Zongxun turning around and striding away, and Ji Xiuyu sitting in the car who was obviously crying, Qin Ke hugged Ning Qingyun who was biting her pink lips desperately to keep from crying, with respect in his eyes.

During these seven days, Ning Zongxun often chatted with Qin Ke about the application of NS equations in fluid mechanics, including fluid dynamics, fluid mechanics, aerodynamics, plasma dynamics, etc., and Qin Ke also had The mysterious information came with the general design ideas and technical principles of "Noah's Ark" and "Sky Fortress", and one thing was quickly determined from these technical exchanges.

——The father-in-law and mother-in-law are really building "Noah's Ark" and "Fortress in the Sky"!
More than ten years ago, when Ning Qingyun was only seven or eight years old, this academician couple resolutely accepted the great trust of the country, left their beloved daughter, and immersed themselves in scientific research underground without seeing the light of day. They have been doing this for more than ten years. During the Spring and Autumn Period, they rarely returned home, which was comparable to Dayu's "three visits without entering the house" during flood control. However, this was not for their own fame and fortune, but just for the eventuality of "the collapse of the world". At this time, it can preserve more civilizational fires for the Xia Kingdom and give the Xia Kingdom a greater advantage in the new order in the future.

Qin Ke has lived in the Gu family since he was a child. His father would rather give up his favorite basketball career in order to take care of his wife and children. Qin Ke has subconsciously become accustomed to treating his family as the most important existence.

He could not be like his father-in-law and mother-in-law, nor could he agree with their decision from the bottom of his heart. After learning about Ning Qingyun's lonely childhood, he became even more dissatisfied and angry with his father-in-law and mother-in-law.

But now he has full respect for his father-in-law and mother-in-law.

Because he already knew that his father-in-law and mother-in-law did not not love Ning Qingyun, they just chose another lonely and difficult road for the sake of the country and the future of mankind.

It is precisely because of countless selfless devotees who sacrifice their lives and their families for everyone that the Xia Kingdom can come out of the chaotic and gloomy historical story and usher in a new history of continuous rejuvenation and catching up with the first-class scientific and technological powers. .

Qin Ke secretly clenched his fists and said in his heart: "Don't worry, parents, I will definitely find out the root cause of this global climate change and solve it, and I will never let the catastrophe of 'world collapse' The calamity is coming!"

He believed that his father-in-law and his mother-in-law would rather their lifelong research efforts never be exposed to the world, and their great contributions would not be known to anyone, rather than see a gloomy future in which all life is in ruins and humanity is almost extinct!

What's more, even if the "Noah's Ark" and "Sky Fortress" they studied are not used, their technological achievements will still play a huge role in promoting Xia's aerospace technology.

... After sending Ning Zongxun and his wife away, the lives of Qin Ke and Ning Qingyun slowly returned to their original state. However, Ning Qingyun still focused on resting and recuperating her body, taking care of her two babies at the same time, and only participating in free time. Qin Ke’s research project.

Qin Ke began to conduct data analysis and mathematical modeling to find a solution to the problem of nuclear sewage, that is, the emission of radioactive elements.

The biggest characteristic of radioactive elements is instability. It will change from one substance to another. The change fundamentally lies in the change of the atomic nucleus - yes, radioactive elements will spontaneously emit particles or rays from the unstable atomic nucleus ( Such as alpha rays, beta rays, gamma rays, etc.), while releasing energy, and eventually decay to form stable elements and stop emitting elements.

Generally, elements with atomic numbers above 84 are radioactive. Some elements with atomic numbers below 83, such as technetium (Tc) and promethium (Pm), are also radioactive. The decay half-lives of different radioactive elements are different, some are faster and some are faster. Slow. For example, the half-life of the radioactive iodine isotope 129I is more than 500 million years, while the half-life of radon-222 is only 3.8 days.

The half-life is determined by the interior of the nucleus itself and has nothing to do with the physical and chemical conditions of the outside world.

However, the radiation problem of radioactive elements cannot be removed through physical, chemical, biological and other methods, but can only be removed through natural decay or transmutation.

Therefore, it is very difficult to make radioactive elements harmless, unless we can find a way to solve the instability problem inside the nucleus and prevent or resolve "decay".

Qin Ke’s original idea was to study the nuclear instability of radioactive elements from the quantum level or even the particle physics level.

The knowledge recorded in the A+ level knowledge "The Mystery of Radioactive Elements" also confirmed Qin Ke's thoughts.

The radioactivity of an element has a specific relationship with the number of protons and neutrons. For example, hydrogen has three isotopes, namely protium, deuterium, and tritium. Protium has only 1 proton but no neutrons. Deuterium has 1 proton and 1 Neutrons, while tritium has 1 proton and 2 neutrons. Among the three isotopes of hydrogen, only tritium is radioactive.

Why is the number of protons and neutrons related to radioactivity?
Because what binds protons and neutrons together to form the nucleus is the strong interaction, the strong force.At the same time, the proton is also composed of two up quarks and one down quark through gluons under the action of the strong interaction force. It can be said that the strong force is one of the key factors in maintaining the internal stability of the atomic nucleus.

But there is not only the strong force in the atomic nucleus, but also another kind of force - the electromagnetic force.

The electromagnetic force exists as a "repulsive force" in the nucleus. Under normal circumstances, the electromagnetic force is much weaker than the strong force. This repulsive force does not affect the stability of the atomic nucleus, but the electromagnetic force is a long-range force. Force, the strong force is a short-range force. Because the electromagnetic force has a long action distance inside the nucleus, the electromagnetic force can be superimposed, but the strong force with a short action distance cannot be superimposed.

The strong force in the nucleus will not change, but the electromagnetic force opposite to it will increase as the number of protons increases. Therefore, when the number of protons in the nucleus reaches enough, the electromagnetic force can compete with the strong force.When the electromagnetic force in the nucleus is large enough to counteract the strong force, the balance of forces within the nucleus will be broken, causing the nucleus to become extremely unstable.

- This is why elements with atomic numbers above 84 are radioactive.

To bring an unbalanced state back to equilibrium, it is like two ends of a scale being unbalanced, either increasing the mass of the lighter end or decreasing the mass of the heavier end.

The solution for radioactive elements is to release the excess protons and neutrons to restore balance to the force and internal energy. This is the process of decay.

The decay process is divided into alpha decay, beta decay, and gamma decay according to the different forms of release (such as alpha rays, beta rays, gamma rays, etc.) and the energy generated.

Alpha decay is a type of nuclear fission that involves the tunneling effect in quantum physics.Protons and neutrons in the nucleus are often combined in the form of alpha clusters, that is, two protons and two neutrons. Therefore, when an alpha cluster is thrown out of an element, an alpha decay has occurred. , reducing two protons and two neutrons, so alpha rays are also called alpha particle beams. Helium nuclei moving at high speed are positively charged.In short, alpha decay is related to tunneling effects and strong interactions.

Beta decay is the process of emitting electrons (beta particles) and neutrinos into another type of nucleus.Because beta decay is essentially a neutron converted into a proton under the action of a weak force, producing a high-speed electron stream e called beta rays.In short, beta decay is related to the weak interaction and the minimum energy principle.

Gamma decay is a process in which an atomic nucleus transitions from an unstable high-energy state to a stable or relatively stable low-energy state without changing its composition. It is related to the minimum energy principle.Gamma rays are emitted during gamma decay. These rays are electromagnetic waves with a wavelength shorter than 0.01 angstroms. They have wave-particle duality and are uncharged.

A radioactive element may undergo alpha, beta, and gamma decay, most notably uranium.

But the key problem is that whether alpha decay, beta decay or gamma decay, the moment it occurs is random, that is, decay is a random event. Any radioactive element may decay in the next second, or it may decay in one billion It decays later in life.As for half-life, it only describes a probability time, that is, when a large number of similar radioactive elements are brought together, about half of the elements decay.

The key to making radioactive elements harmless is to control this "random event of decay."For example, if we prevent them from decaying for 10 billion or 100 billion years, there will naturally be no radioactive hazards, or we can control them to decay at the same time at the same instant and transform into harmless substances.

Unfortunately, so far, no theory can explain this randomness, and no theory can control this randomness.

"The Mystery of Radioactive Elements" is only A+ level knowledge, not S level knowledge. It still needs to be improved, or it is missing a piece of the puzzle.

Qin Ke believes that if you want to complete this puzzle, you must study the relationship between strong force and electromagnetic force.

Since February, Qin Ke has been studying the topic of "Theoretical Unification of Strong Interaction Force and Electromagnetic Force" with Professor Ning Qingjun and Edward Witten. Later, Mr. Qiu and Professor Karen Uhlenbeck also joined. Together, we will conduct in-depth optimization and expansion of the gauge field theory whose gauge group is SU(3)×SU(2)×U(1).

After nearly four months of research, repeated ideological encounters with the great masters of digital gauge field theory, and the inspiration gained from the questions raised in "The Mystery of Radioactive Elements", Qin Ke felt that he was about to grasp the key. The key to unifying the true connection between the strong interaction and the electromagnetic force.

He called Ning Qingyun, and the two of them devoted their evenings to researching this topic.

On the morning of Father's Day, June 6, one day before the smiling and clanging full moon, Qin Ke finally had a spark of inspiration in his mind.

This will be the spark of inspiration that once again illuminates the prospects for the unification of physics!

(End of this chapter)