Chapter 138 - 136: Academic Research Is Groping in the Dark
Montgomery’s Conjecture on Association?
As a titan in the field of pure mathematics, Liu Ruochuan certainly knew what this formula meant.
In 1973, mathematician Hugh Montgomery proposed a revolutionary conjecture.
The distribution of the spacing between non-trivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function, after normalization, had a statistical pattern identical to the pair correlation distribution of eigenvalues of random Hermitian matrices (GUE) in quantum mechanics!
And the formula on Li Dong’s scratch paper, 1 - [sin(πu)/(πu)]^2, was the core density function of this very distribution.
The reason this conjecture was so terrifying was that it built a bridge between number theory and the forefront of quantum chaos physics.
But verifying or advancing this conjecture required a massive amount of non-trivial zero data as its underlying support.
The others in the dorm room had more or less heard of this conjecture as well.
Wang Hao’s lips were trembling as he stammered out a question.
"Dean... Dean Liu, did... did he prove the conjecture?"
Liu Ruochuan looked at the scratch paper and shook his head.
"Prove it? How could that be possible!" Liu Ruochuan took a deep breath.
"A complete proof of Montgomery’s Conjecture on Association is nearly as difficult as proving the Riemann Hypothesis itself."
"However..." Liu Ruochuan trailed off, looking at the complex functional analysis and contour integral transformations on the scratch paper. He didn’t say more, but his mind continued to analyze.
Combining that with the scaling estimates for test functions and Fourier transforms on the paper...
’This kid... Is he trying to push past the theoretical boundary of |α|
Liu Ruochuan was stunned by Li Dong’s sheer audacity.
’Something’s not right!’ His brow furrowed.
’If he wants to push the current theoretical boundary...’
’...it would require an absolutely enormous amount of non-trivial zero data for support.’
’Take the latest algorithm that Li Dong published in that journal, for instance.’
’Old Jiang at Capital University used their entire supercomputing cluster, running at full capacity for so long, and they barely managed to reach the 10^17 level.’
’For the sample precision he needs now, that’s not enough. Not nearly enough!’
Puzzled, Liu Ruochuan subconsciously glanced at the mobile workstation on Li Dong’s desk, its screen still on.
With just one look, the Dean of the Yan University School of Mathematics froze completely.
In the console window, green numbers were still refreshing...
[Verified Zeros: 98,765,432,100,000,000,000...]
[Verified Zeros: 98,765,432,456,678,222,000...]
The order of magnitude had already reached 9 * 10^19, and it was about to break the 10^20 barrier!
’This... How is this possible?’ Liu Ruochuan’s mind was reeling.
Even if the hardware configuration of the nodes at the Yan University Supercomputing Center was a bit better than Capital University’s.
But this was an exponential leap!
From 10^17 to 10^20, the required computing power had ballooned by a thousandfold. This was absolutely not a gap that could be closed by hardware advantages alone.
The only explanation was...
’He optimized the algorithm?’
Liu Ruochuan was a top titan in the world of mathematics; he knew better than anyone what this implied.
This was definitely not just a simple code optimization. Given the current computational magnitude and speed...
...either Li Dong had created a brand-new, god-tier algorithm, or... the algorithm he’d published in that top journal wasn’t the complete version at all. He had intentionally held back on the core convergence acceleration part!
Li Dong: ??? I held back? Bullshit! I only just recently managed to fully digest Riemann’s manuscripts... uh, I think I’ve digested them, right?...
At this thought, not only was Liu Ruochuan not angry, but he was so excited his hands began to tremble.
He recalled the recent flood of arrogant comments on foreign websites.
Those Western scholars had condescendingly claimed Li Dong’s algorithm was "merely a minor adjustment within an existing framework" and had "no fundamental mathematical significance."
He suddenly smiled...
Was this a slap in the face for them?
But it didn’t matter anymore. Compared to what Li Dong was doing now, what did those voices amount to? They weren’t even qualified to have their faces slapped.
Liu Ruochuan didn’t know if Li Dong’s deduction would ultimately succeed.
After all, academic research was, by its very nature, a process of fumbling in the dark.
But since his own student was advancing such a momentous, historic proposition, it was his duty as a teacher to run interference for him.
Liu Ruochuan didn’t make a sound to disturb Li Dong.
He turned, beckoned to Professor Zhou and the three roommates in the dorm, and gestured for everyone to leave.
After the dorm room door was gently closed, Liu Ruochuan turned to look at Zhou Qifeng.
"Old Zhou, go ahead and approve Li Dong’s leave of absence. As for the duration, just leave it open for now."
"During this period, if you encounter any administrative problems that are difficult to resolve at the department level, tell me directly. I’ll go communicate with the university leadership."
Professor Zhou nodded with a wry smile.
’Could I possibly not approve it? You, the Dean, are taking it this seriously. I’m just an ordinary senior professor at Yan University. What could I possibly say...’
After speaking with Professor Zhou, Liu Ruochuan turned to Li Dong’s three roommates.
"You three, pack some clothes for the next few days and go bunk with my doctoral student. He happens to be living alone."
"For the time being, leave this dorm room to Li Dong. Let him have a relatively quiet environment."
The three roommates quickly nodded.
Wang Hao glanced at Room 404 through the door, his expression growing more and more complicated.
A deep sense of powerlessness welled up inside him. ’Can I... Can I really still catch up to him?’
Meanwhile, the other two, Liu Qiang and Chen Nan, those jokers, exchanged a look, each seeing the same thought in the other’s eyes:
’Damn it, Brother Dong, when Han Li went for his Nascent Soul Formation, at least he found a Top-Grade Spirit Vein to go into seclusion.’
’But you? You’re forming your academic Nascent Soul right here in a university dorm room?’
After arranging all this, Liu Ruochuan walked to a window in the hallway and made another call to Gao Wen.
The call connected...
"Hey, Old Liu, what’s up? I’m in a meeting at Huaxuan right now..."
"Step out for a minute," Liu Ruochuan said.
The person on the other end was clearly taken aback. A moment later, Gao Wen spoke.
"Alright, hang on."
Then Gao Wen hung up.
Less than a minute later, the phone rang again.
"Old Liu, what on earth is it?"
"Sigh..."
Liu Ruochuan sighed and explained the situation with Li Dong.
The other end of the line went silent for a long time.
"10^20?"
Clearly, Gao Wen had also figured it out.
Li Dong’s algorithm had been iterated upon.
"Old Liu, I’ll have to trouble you with things on the university’s end."
"That meeting I mentioned with the kid, I’ll have Huaxuan push it back. We’ll focus on preparing the hardware interface adjustments for the other departments first."
"Alright!"
After hanging up, Liu Ruochuan walked back into the hallway, waved to the others to go about their business, then clasped his hands behind his back and hummed a little tune as he walked toward the dean’s office.