I failed a course, and the system became my study supervisor.

Chapter 92 It's Xu Ling's turn to do his graduation project
Time is like an arrow, the sun and the moon are like a shuttle.

Let’s fast forward to early 2027, the second semester of Xu Ling’s senior year.

From the time Zhang Zhongyao was elected as an academician to the present, Xu Ling has participated in a total of three projects.

Xu Ling was awarded the second author title for two of these papers and the first author title for one, and he accumulated nearly three million yuan in funds.

Among them, the research on muons and neutrinos has not stopped and has achieved further progress.

During this period, Xu Ling achieved a total of two achievements, but unfortunately he did not obtain the technological blueprints, and Xu Ling really never received any system tasks again.

However, Xu Ling's academic level is no longer what it used to be.

The following is Xu Ling’s current panel data.

Mathematics - Level 2 (1000/3000) (+)
b.Physical——lv.2 (100/3000)(+)
c. Chemistry——lv.1 (400/1000)(+)
d. Biology and Medicine——lv.1 (10/1000)(+)
e. Informatics lv.1 (20/1000)(+)
f. Engineering lv.1 (20/1000)(+)
g. Linguistics lv.1 (20/1000)(+)】

The remaining points are: 300 points for diligence and 100 points for motivation.

Among all subjects, those that were still at lv.0 were manually upgraded to lv.1 by Xu Ling.

More importantly, Xu Ling's mathematics and physics have reached level 2, which makes Xu Ling more comfortable in his research.

……

"Have you thought it through?"

Zhang Zhongyao asked Xu Ling.

"I plan to continue working on topics related to muons or neutrinos."

Xu Ling replied.

"I'm not asking about your graduation project. Even if you don't do your graduation project, you can just look at your previous papers and do some research.

What I want to ask is, where are you going to go from here?"

Zhang Zhongyao shook his head and said.

Where to go?

To be honest, Xu Ling didn't have any definite idea yet. When he heard this question, he was stunned for a moment.

"Let me help you analyze this," Zhang Zhongyao continued, "you probably have four options.

First, do not continue your studies and directly enter the society, either join an organization or start your own business.

Second, stay in my laboratory and continue to conduct research in electromagnetism and high-energy physics.

Third, go to the capital.

Fourth, go abroad and see the world.”

Zhang Zhongyao explained it in detail, and Xu Ling understood it immediately:
"Which path do you think is more suitable for me?"

"Haha, if you ask me, of course I want you to stay in my lab."

Zhang Zhongyao smiled.

"However, if you want to study abroad, I support you. With your current achievements and the recommendation letter I gave you, you can go to any school you want.

But I don’t recommend you go to the capital. If you go to the capital, you might as well stay with me.”

Going abroad?

See the world outside?
Or continue to stay here?

Xu Ling was still a little undecided. After a moment of silence, he said, "Let me think about it. It's hard to draw any conclusions for now."

Zhang Zhongyao nodded and said nothing more.

……

Although Zhang Zhongyao clearly stated that he didn't need to worry too much about his graduation project, Xu Ling wanted to put a perfect end to his four years of university.

Therefore, Xu Ling did not take the topic selection lightly.

After several rounds of careful selection and continuous thinking, Xu Ling chose the problem of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon.

The so-called anomalous magnetic moment of the muon refers to the deviation between the actual magnetic moment of the muon and the predicted value based on the standard model.

According to the Standard Model theory, the magnetic moment of the muon should be a number very close to but not equal to 2, called g-2. However, Fermi National Laboratory officially confirmed in 2021 that the behavior of the muon does not match the predictions of the Standard Model theory.

This difference may suggest the existence of some unknown fifth force of nature, or it may be caused by new particles, new dimensions, or new space-time characteristics.

After Xu Ling's speculation and theoretical analysis, he believes that if there is a long-range force generated by ordinary atoms acting on the muon spin through axial vector and pseudoscalar coupling.

And there needs to be a tiny spin energy splitting of about 10^-13 electron volts between the vertically polarized muon states, so that this difference can be eliminated.

Of course, this is just Xu Ling's guess and still needs to be measured experimentally.

Unfortunately, there is currently no relevant experimental equipment that can measure this.

Xu Ling couldn't measure it directly, but he proposed a possible experimental plan based on his hypothesis. The main idea was to expand the experiment for measuring spin resonance.

Moreover, Xu Ling believes that this solution is feasible under the current technological level.

However, deduction and hypothesis are still some distance away from paper production.

Xu Ling spent about a month and finally completed the writing of his graduation thesis.

Titled:

A new hypothesis to explain the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon

Because it was a graduation thesis, it was not published in any journal and naturally did not cause any waves.

Then the next step is to think carefully about what to do next.

After thinking about it in his spare time while writing his thesis, Xu Ling has narrowed his choices to staying in school and studying abroad.

The idea of ​​staying in this school is largely due to geographical factors.

After all, Shanghai was the land where Xu Ling was born and raised. Here, he had his parents, as well as Zhang Zhongyao, his teacher and friend. He could also continue his research here.

But there was still an impulse in Xu Ling's heart, constantly stimulating Xu Ling to want to go abroad to see the world.

Xu Ling wanted to see what the world abroad was like, what their scientific research environment was like, why China still couldn't catch up with them in many areas, and what exactly were their advantages?

Thinking of this, the final decision has actually been made.

If Xu Ling is determined to stay in the school, there will be no second choice.

Now that he had figured it out, Xu Ling went straight to Zhang Zhongyao in the laboratory.

"Teacher Zhang, I've made up my mind. I want to go out and take a look!"

Xu Ling's tone was somewhat firm.

"Hmm... not bad. I support you. It's right to see more of the outside world and understand our shortcomings. But you must always remember one thing:

Science has no borders, but scientists do.

Understand? "

Zhang Zhongyao's voice was a little low but very serious.

"I see!"

Xu Ling nodded heavily.

"Have you decided which school you want to go to?"

Zhang Zhongyao then asked.

"Caltech or MIT, what do you think?"

Xu Ling said tentatively.

Xu Ling had done his research beforehand. Both schools were top research centers in the field of physics, and both were highly compatible with Xu Ling's research interests.

"Then I suggest you go to Caltech. You have a senior there, so you can look after each other. Plus, I know quite a few professors, and I can recommend them directly to you, so it will be much more convenient for you there.

Never mind the fact that Massachusetts is ranked higher in the world; that doesn’t mean anything.”

Zhang Zhongyao said slowly.

Now that things had come to this, Xu Ling naturally had nothing to worry about. He nodded immediately and began to prepare the application materials.

(End of this chapter)