Research starts with PhD students

Chapter 111 Let me realize your dream!
Institute of Advanced Mathematics, second floor, Zhang Shuo’s office.

There was a large stack of organized manuscripts on the edge of the desk, and several other manuscripts were scattered on the table.

The computer is on.

The upper half of the screen displayed a complex three-dimensional graphic, with several reduced plane curve graphs on the edge, densely marked with points, and some text introduction content.

At the bottom of the screen is a large number of densely packed characters, which look dazzling and give people a sense of visual oppression.

Zhang Shuo was sitting in front of the computer, typing on the keyboard. Characters were entered one by one, and soon the computer displayed the calculation results.

He lowered his head and took notes.

He looked up again, output another long string of characters, performed the calculation once more, and recorded the results again after obtaining them.

This cycle repeats many times.

I don’t know how long it took before my fingers finally stopped and a relaxed smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.

"Finally finished!"

Zhang Shuo stretched his body, picked up the cup and took a sip of coffee, then lowered his head to make the final record.

After completing the recording, he sorted out the manuscript information, and then couldn't wait to open the task system -

【Task 3】

[Research project name: Numerical simulation algorithm of NS equation (difficulty assessment: B). ]

【Progress: 100%.】

(The task has been completed and can be submitted!)
"submit!"

【Scientific research coin +100.】

【Scientific research currency: 418. 】

Zhang Shuo couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.

The research on numerical simulation of NS equations is very difficult. The last few points of progress involve very complex demonstrations and calculations. It took two rounds of "氪币" before I found the next direction.

A lot of scientific research coins were consumed and a lot of settlement rewards were received. This was the first time I received a bonus of 100 scientific research coins at one time.

The research on the Monge-Ampere equation that I conducted with Luo Yongjun previously also required 500 scientific research coins, but the settlement reward as the second contributor was only 50 points.

Now it's 100 points, which feels like a huge bonus.

Zhang Shuo stood up and rested for a while, then began to organize the materials. He was also thinking about what to publish.

The numerical simulation of NS equations is of great significance.

Some content involving core algorithms needs to be considered whether to make it public.

Just like when a major technology is developed that can change people's lives, scientific and technological information must be disclosed selectively rather than making all research content public to the world.

That is equivalent to dividing your money equally among everyone in the world.

After completing his research on numerical simulation of the NS equations, Zhang Shuo found himself having a lot of free time. He wanted to continue his previous research, but this was not possible under the current circumstances.

Research in the field of high-energy physics has not yet reached that level, and even unknown physical phenomena have not been fully determined.

However, the research of the Institute of High Energy Physics is also moving towards the direction of determining unknown physical discoveries. They are developing a large-scale experimental deviation analysis algorithm. Once the algorithm is available, the unknown physical phenomena will naturally be determined after a large number of experimental deviation analyses.

By then, there will be new changes in the field of physics, and related research will receive more attention.

Yu Fei from the Cp group seemed to be considering conducting experiments in the direction he mentioned, and even called him twice to discuss the experimental technical issues of "strong magnetic field interference with hyperon decay".

Zhang Shuo thought about it and was still looking forward to it, so he simply lay down on the sofa to take a rest.

"Dong, dong..."

The door rang.

Zhang Shuo raised his head and shouted "Come in".

Tan Youming walked in and asked with a smile, "I noticed your door was closed, what were you doing?"

"Checking my phone and reading the news." Zhang Shuo sat up straighter and showed his phone screen. "I just took a break."

Tan Youming asked, "Have you adapted to your work these days? You've been stuck in your office since you came back from the Second Hospital. Are you feeling uncomfortable with graduation? And you said you can't find your direction?"

Zhang Shuo nodded and said, "Yes, a little bit, but I don't know what research to do next."

Tan Youming sat down with a smile on his face. "My advice to you is to study whatever you like."

"I can't do it!" Zhang Shuo sighed.

Tan Youming was stunned for a moment, and tried to ask, "Are you talking about physics? I remember you said you like research in the field of physics. Then I thought about it, are you talking about those large-scale, cutting-edge experiments?"

"Correct."

Tan Youming tried to give a suggestion, "Or you could join a project team doing cutting-edge physics research?"

Zhang Shuo shook his head. "I don't like following others to do experiments, and there is no suitable team."

Tan Youming looked at Zhang Shuo carefully, thinking that he might be too old to understand the ideas of young people. He smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Since I can't do it for the time being, I'll just be a famous scholar first, so that I can become more famous and have a higher status. This can also be regarded as laying the foundation for the future."

He continued, "You have already gained a certain reputation in the fields of computational mathematics and high-energy physics algorithms. If you want to engage in cutting-edge physics research in the future, or even lead your own experimental research, you must first become an authoritative scholar, preferably an academic leader in a single field."

"It would be the best if you could be elected as an academician, but it's still a little too early for you."

After Tan Youming finished speaking, he talked about his own experience when he was young. "When I was your age, I was still studying for a doctorate. My advisor at the time told me that at any time, I should first do well the task at hand."

"Even if you are not interested in this matter, you must do it well..."

"Academic research is a gradual process. You can't do it all at once..."

“Blah blah~~~”

Tan Youming seemed to have started the free-chatting mode. He said a lot of things in a row, interspersed with many life insights and inspirational quotes.

Zhang Shuo felt dizzy after hearing this.

At first, he thought what the other party said made sense.

Later, he quickly found an excuse to go out, rushed to the end of the floor in a few steps, and pushed the door into Sun Xingli's office.

This is the newly assigned office.

The office also has the standard configuration of a desk, sofa and bookshelf, but the area is relatively small and there is no single bed.

Sun Xingli really enjoys his office.

He was half lying on the sofa, with a mobile phone in his right hand and a cup of coffee in his left hand. His toes were raised high and trembling, making him look relaxed and contented.

Zhang Shuo looked around and commented, "Not bad."

"It's not as good as your office. The area is much smaller, and there's no single bed. I can only lie on the sofa." Sun Xingli said casually. His tone clearly showed that he didn't care. "How about we switch?"

"Don't change!"

Sun Xingli directly refused and he would not exchange offices with Zhang Shuo.

Zhang Shuo's office was just opposite the dean, Tan Youming, which was a disastrous location, while his own office was at the very back of the corridor, so perfect that it was impossible to find it even if he wanted to.

He would be willing to have an office in such a good location even if the area was half as small.

Sun Xingli continued to look leisurely, as if Zhang Shuo didn't exist at all.

Zhang Shuo asked, "Why don't you have to do anything?"

"correct."

Sun Xingli said as a matter of course, "You don't have to do anything." He sat up and said, "Dean Tan talked to me about course work. I want to teach a graduate course "Arithmetic Geometry". It will be next semester, and it is an elective. I only need to take two classes a week."

"What about research?"

"Professor Chen Tianze invited me to join his project, and I agreed, but only to share part of the work as a transition. I have already told him that I will apply for a project independently next year."

"What kind of research does Professor Chen do?" Zhang Shuo asked curiously.

"Dirichlet series and Hurwitz-type Dirichlet series." Sun Xingli explained, "Periodic functions, Lerch functions, Dirichlet L-functions, Hurwitz L-functions, etc., study the value distribution and mean calculation problems of these functions..."

"In short, it's a lot of research related to prime number distribution. I hope there will be breakthrough results and enrich and improve the relevant theories."

“So boring!”

After he finished speaking, he made his comment in three words.

Zhang Shuo also felt bored, so he asked, "What project are you applying for?"

"I have already thought of a primality test for nearby single prime powers, and doing this is also an extension of my previous research."

Zhang Shuo knew the content as soon as he heard it.

Single prime power, that is, 'prime power', such as '3 to the 5th power', '7 to the 17th power', '13 to the th power', powers with prime numbers as base (calculated results).

Previously, Sun Xingli studied primality tests starting from square numbers, but now it has become primality tests of adjacent single prime powers. The range of numbers is different, and it is a completely different track.

Starting with square numbers, it is a study of regular prime number distribution.

Starting from a single prime power, it involves the 'special prime number research'.

For example, Mersenne primes.

"This is not just an expansion. It would be amazing if we can complete it!" Zhang Shuo didn't even need to create a task to check the difficulty.

Such research must be above grade A.

Sun Xingli said indifferently, "I don't want to complete the research, but this direction involves many fields, such as Zhou's conjecture and Mersenne number, many of which are related, so the scope is relatively large."

"When applying for a project, if the reviewer sees that it is a one-way field, it is easier to pass it, but in fact, it involves a lot of content, even covering Dirichlet series. Anyway, it is related to the distribution of prime numbers, so it can be related in any way."

Zhang Shuo gave a thumbs up after hearing this, "Great!"

Sun Xingli laughed and continued, "In fact, I have always been interested in this direction. For example, I like to study Mersenne primes. I have done special analysis and research to find more than a dozen nine-digit numbers and use the GIMPS distributed network to perform calculations."

"When I was in college, my dream was to find a prime number with 100 million digits and win a prize of 150,000 US dollars."

"Then I gave up because my computer performance was so poor that I couldn't even calculate a single number."

Sun Xingli sighed with regret, "After I came to school, I applied to use the server in the computer laboratory and spent more than 5,000 yuan, but in the end I didn't calculate anything."

"Five thousand dollars!"

"The school's computer lab is too dark. They said it's for electricity and usage fees!"

Zhang Shuo didn't know how to comment on this behavior for a moment.

Through analysis and calculation, we found several nine-digit numbers, and then spent money to use a server to calculate them. In the end, we found that none of them were Mersenne prime numbers.

As a result, it was all too normal.

process……

Zhang Shuo exclaimed, "As expected of Brother Sun, you spend money to experience the feeling of having your dream shattered!"

"roll!"

Zhang Shuo joked with Sun Xingli for a few words, then returned to his office. He sat in front of his computer and opened the GIMPS website to take a look.

It was written below——

"Discovered the largest known prime number, 2 to the power of 82589933 - 1, from a computer provided by Patrick LaRoche of Ocala, Florida."

"Patrick LaRoche was very lucky that he got paid handsomely on his fourth try."

"For years, Patrick has used the GIMPS software as a free stress test for his computer builds, and less than four months ago he began searching for prime on a media server to give back to the project..."

There are a lot of introductions below.

Finally, it says, "Making mathematical history!"

"You can have one of the most coveted discoveries - a new Mersenne prime number, and all you need is a personal computer, patience and a lot of luck.

In addition to the fun of doing math problems, you can also win a $3000 cash prize.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is offering a $150000 reward to the first person or group to discover a million-digit prime number!"

Zhang Shuo looked at the content on the website and suddenly understood why Sun Xingli was interested.

Fame plus high bonus!
If you can find a prime number with 100 million digits, your name will dominate the personal introduction of the GIMPS website for a long time, and you will also receive a prize of 150,000 US dollars.

He tried to create a mission—

【Task 1】

[Research project name: Finding a prime number with 100 million digits (difficulty assessment: C).]

【Progress: 0.001%.】

(The task can be canceled. The current number of research coins required to cancel the task is 0.)
(The remaining progress requires 100 scientific research coins.)
"C-rank, one hundred points?"

“It’s lower than expected.”

Zhang Shuo stared at the task content and nodded with satisfaction, "My name will be listed on the GIMPS website and I will get a $150,000 bonus..."

"Brother Sun, let me realize your dream from college!"

(End of this chapter)