From all-round academic master to chief scientist - Chapter 166 An important breakthrough in the twin prime conjecture

“In France, we have to eat slowly when we eat. We are the ones in France who take the longest time to eat in the world.”

In a restaurant near the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, Lin Xiao was having lunch with a Frenchman.

There were relatively few people in the restaurant, and everyone was enjoying the food and chatting with friends.

After all, the world was still peaceful and peaceful on March 10, 2020, and there was no crisis sweeping the world.

The Frenchman in front of Lin Xiao was named Alex Martin. Like Lin Xiao, he studied in the Department of Mathematics at the Normal School in Paris and also had a Ph.D.

He could still recall the time he met Alex Martin.

Alex’s dormitory was right across from his. The two of them happened to go out together the day before yesterday. After Alex saw him, an expression of wonder immediately appeared on Alex’s face and he said to him: “Oh! Excuse me Are you Lin Xiao?”

After receiving a positive reply, the French boy became even more exaggerated, “Oh my God, you actually came to our school. It’s such a surprise.”

Afterwards, Alex took Lin Xiao for a group photo, told his friends that Lin Xiao lived across the street from him, and then took Lin Xiao around the school to familiarize him with their school. inside and out.

All in all, the enthusiasm from Alex made Lin Xiao feel dumbfounded, and after that, they naturally became friends.

Of course, for Lin Xiao, it is quite good to have someone he knows in this foreign country. At least they have someone to look after each other.

At this moment, the two of them were sitting in this traditional French restaurant not far from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, and Alex was introducing the French dining tradition to Lin Xiao.

“When I eat at home, I have to eat for more than an hour, chatting with my family, or teasing my sister… Oh, when I talk about my sister, she gets noisy when she knows you are my neighbor. I want to see you.”

“Do you have a sister?”

“Of course, but her grades are not as good as mine, so she can only go to No. 11 University.” Alex smiled and said: “Besides, she also majored in mathematics and likes you very much. How about I introduce you to her some other time? one time?”

“Ah… there’s no need for that.” Lin Xiao quickly waved his hand.

“She’s very pretty, and I guarantee she hasn’t had a boyfriend yet. Trust me, she’s the shyest of us French girls.”

“I believe she is very beautiful, but I’d better study hard.”

Lin Xiao looked at Alex Martin. This guy had red hair that belonged to the Celtics. He had quite obvious facial contours, which made him look very handsome. He was also quite tall, 1.8 meters tall. With a height of five and a somewhat sturdy figure, he can attract the attention of all kinds of girls when he walks on the road. .

So even Lin Xiao has to admit that this guy is almost the same as him.

And since my brother is so beautiful, my sister must also be very beautiful.

But, it’s okay to get to know each other, but if it’s a girlfriend… then forget it.

“Oh, that’s such a pity.” Alex could only regret: “My sister will definitely be disappointed.”

“But why do you know she likes me?”

“No, no, no, not just my sister, I believe that all girls studying mathematics in Paris like you. We all know your deeds in that Bourbaki seminar. You are in the mathematics departments of all universities in Paris. Among them, they are all legendary figures.”

“Is that so?”

“Of course it is.”

Alex nodded matter-of-factly.

Lin Xiao touched his face. Alas, could he only rely on his talent to conquer others in his life?

“Gentlemen, your cream of mushroom soup.”

At this time, the waiter next to him came up and interrupted Lin Xiao’s narcissism.

“Thanks.”

After taking the soup, Lin Xiao took the soup and the steak next to it and ate slowly.

“By the way, Lin, has your advisor told you about your graduation requirements?” Alex asked again at this time.

Lin Xiao thought about it and said, “He just asked me to study my own topic. As long as he thinks the final result is good, he can graduate me.”

“Oh, Lin, as expected of you, my supervisor is much more strict.” Alex sighed and said: “After I came here to become a doctoral student, my supervisor asked me to choose a topic. Gauss’s double bubble theory requires a breakthrough in this theory before graduation, and before that, I still need to do a one-year project with him.”

“Double bubble theory? The research on Riemann surfaces is quite difficult.” Lin Xiao said with a smile: “Of course, just take your time. You have only been in school for half a year anyway.”

Alex nodded and suddenly said: “Oh, speaking of which, have you heard about the recent twin prime number conjecture?”

“Are you referring to the mathematics professor at Stanford University in the United States who reduced the K value of the twin prime conjecture to 128?”

“Of course!” Alex nodded and said, “And, I heard that he did it using the sieve circle method you created when you were proving Goldbach’s conjecture.”

Lin Xiao nodded. The sieve circle method can be used in the study of most prime number problems. After all, the problems between prime number problems are sometimes connected.

He smiled and said: “Of course I knew that after I created the sieve circle method, I realized that it would one day be used to solve the twin prime number problem.”

Alex asked: “Then why didn’t you try this later? It proved Goldbach’s conjecture and the twin prime conjecture… I must admit, this kind of thing is really cool! Hilbert’s Eighth Question, two-thirds of it has been completed in your hands!”

Lin Xiao raised his eyebrows slightly: “It seems… it is indeed interesting. It seems that I can study this conjecture in the next time.”

It happened that he had been at the Ecole Normale Supérieure for a few days, and he had not yet made a decision about the next problem he wanted to study. It would not be bad if he chose the twin prime conjecture.

Anyway, the difficulty of twin prime numbers is not as high as Goldbach’s conjecture, and it is still simpler to a certain extent.

When he heard Lin Xiao say this, Alex was stunned, “Do you really want to study the twin prime conjecture?”

“certainly.”

Lin Xiao nodded.

Then he saw Alex take out a small notebook and a pen from the windbreaker placed beside him, and then started writing on the table.

Lin Xiao stepped forward and took a look.

[At one o’clock in the afternoon on March 10, 2020, at bistrot77 restaurant, I had lunch with Lin Xiao, who proved Goldbach’s conjecture, and then he told me that he wanted to prove the twin prime conjecture. I believe this is a historic moment because I have been waiting for the day when he will complete the proof. 】

Looking at what Alex wrote, Lin Xiao couldn’t help but be stunned: “What are you… doing?”

“Of course, record it.”

Alex said with a smile, “When you really prove your success, I can share this diary on my Facebook.”

Lin Xiao couldn’t help but asked in amusement: “Why is this necessary?”

“Of course it is necessary. It will definitely bring me more attention.” Alex said with a smile: “Oh, by the way, what is your Facebook? We in France usually use our faces. Books serve as communication software.”

“some.”

Later, Lin Xiao and Alex added friends on Facebook.

“You have so few friends… Huh?! This is Terry-Tao, do you actually have Tao Zhexuan’s friends?” At this time, Alex looked at Lin Xiao’s friend list and suddenly exclaimed.

“Yes, I still have his Instagram friends.” Lin Xiao said, and then pointed to his few other friends, all of whom are world-renowned mathematicians.

“This is Professor Laforgue from our college. He seems to have joined Warwick Company now. This is Schulz, the 2018 Fields Medal winner. This is…”

Looking at these friends of Lin Xiaojia, Alex said with envy: “It’s great. Your friends are all big names in mathematics, unlike me, almost all of my friends are girls.”

Lin Xiao: “…”

“It seems that I will have to add more math friends like you in the future. If there is a girl who wants to be my friend in the future, I will have to give her a math problem and she can add me after she solves it.”

“It’s all girls who take the initiative to join you?”

“Of course. When I usually sit in the library, a girl wants to be my friend.”

Lin Xiao: “…”

Are you showing off?

You are definitely showing off, right?

“If you don’t accept my sister, then let me introduce you to some female friends in the main office, right? In France, people who don’t have female friends will be looked down upon.”

Alex asked eagerly again.

Lin Xiao somehow felt that he wanted to lead her into trouble.

“We’ll talk about this later. For now, let’s continue eating.”

Seeing that Lin Xiao was not interested, Alex had no choice but to nod, “Okay then.”

…

Lunch lasted from around twelve o’clock to around two o’clock in the afternoon. This made Lin Xiao see how fast the French eat, and they are indeed notoriously slow.

And Alex has always been enthusiastic about introducing him to female friends.

I have heard before that the French are keen on sharing, and Lin Xiao has gained a lot of experience now.

However, after finishing the lunch, Lin Xiao returned to his dormitory.

After picking up Mimi and jerking her off, he took out his computer and looked at something related to the twin prime conjecture.

Since he decided to prove this conjecture, of course he had to start making preparations.

In this way, he entered into his own study.

…

Meanwhile, Stanford University.

In a classroom in the Department of Mathematics, a mathematics professor in his forties or fifties was being interviewed by the media.

“Professor Cayman, you have successfully advanced the k value in the twin prime conjecture to 128. What does it mean to the mathematical world?”

Professor Cayman said with excitement and pride on his face: “The twin prime conjecture has existed in the mathematical community for a long time. How to solve it is of unparalleled importance to the mathematical community. It is like challenging mankind. The Mount Everest of wisdom is full of countless hardships and hardships. And my success also means that I have completed an important breakthrough for the mathematics community.”

“I heard that you used the circle sieve method of that Chinese mathematical genius in the proof process? So did you improve his circle sieve method?”

Cayman frowned, and then said: “No, no, the sieve-circle method is a method that combines the sieve method and the circle method, and the sieve method and the circle method were both methods that existed many years ago, so Lin and I Xiao’s work is only an improvement on these two methods. Although his help is indeed included in my results, we would not be able to reach this point without the work I did.”

The reporter laughed and said, “Then thank Professor Cayman for your contribution to the world of mathematics. I believe everyone will remember you.”

“certainly.”

Caiman nodded slightly.