Chapter 93
Zhu Ren thought and thought, but since he couldn't save money on the equipment, he could only look in other directions.
Actually, it's common practice to cut employee salaries when the company isn't doing well. Even if we cut everyone's current wages in half, it would still be above the industry average, but it goes without saying that Chi Chih-hsing would definitely disagree.
"Otherwise, if the experiment doesn't make progress, why don't we just pause it for a while, and then you can think it over and continue?" Running two laboratories above and below ground these days, the electricity bill alone is tens of thousands, and the experimental costs are even more unpredictable.
Ji Zhixing pondered for a moment, and indeed, there was little point in wasting time like this.
“How about this, there are a lot of academic conferences lately, right? Let me see all the invitations, and I’ll pick one for each of them,” Ji Zhixing said. “Going out and about might just give them some inspiration.”
When he and Deng Yi encountered a bottleneck in their research on low-temperature optical tweezers technology, they also got their inspiration from an academic conference.
Zhu Ren also thought it was a good idea. He got up, went downstairs, and brought up a cardboard box filled with invitations to various academic conferences.
"So many?" Even though Ji Zhixing knew it was peak season for academic conferences, he didn't expect it to fill a large cardboard box.
“Yes, think about it. Anyone in the fields of physics, mathematics, and computer science will definitely get one. Even if it only involves a little bit of a multidisciplinary field, they won’t miss you.” Zhu Ren counted on his fingers. “And those that combine industry, academia, and research, are commercial in nature, or are just gimmicks, they’ll love to send you one even more.”
If by sheer luck they manage to fool Ji Zhixing, they'll have struck gold. Even though Ji Zhixing's public profile isn't what it used to be, he still wields considerable influence in academia. If he goes, countless researchers will surely flock to him.
Ji Zhixing had to spend some time searching for opportunities.
In the past two years, the country has made great efforts to rectify various unhealthy practices in academia, such as academic misconduct, factionalism, ghost reviews, and improper authorship, and has achieved good results. However, academic conferences remain a difficult area to rectify.
Organizing or participating in academic conferences can bring fame to an organization, a project, and an individual; it can lead to the publication of numerous articles in conference journals; it can increase performance evaluation scores; and it can facilitate the acquisition of funding—these four major benefits have led to the proliferation of academic conferences.
Ji Zhixing lifted the box and tilted it down, then sat cross-legged on the ground and began to pick and choose.
"Tsk, this is useless." It looks like a useless piece of junk.
"Wow, Mr. Charles is still practicing his art." A few years ago, he attended an academic conference with Deng Yi and Ye Shi, and Mr. Charles used the same topic, without changing a single word.
"Hmm... Progress and challenges of three-dimensional photonic integrated chips, this topic is not bad." Ji Zhixing flipped through the list of participating experts again, and Professor Yan's name was prominently listed, so this must be a very formal academic conference. Let Deng Yi go.
Ji Zhixing spent several hours flipping through the invitations and selected 12 of the more valuable ones to send out.
"It's a good opportunity for everyone to put aside their experiments for a while, go out and exchange ideas, and broaden their thinking," Ji Zhixing said.
Yi Yan and the others accepted the arrangement with a detached attitude. Although Ji Zhixing didn't say it explicitly, they could guess that the main reason for arranging for everyone to attend the academic conference was that the experiment was making no progress. However, after staying in the lab for so long, it was good to go outside and let their brains get some fresh air.
A dozen or so researchers went to various places to attend academic conferences, but Ji Zhixing stayed in the city because he was invited to attend the anniversary celebration of Guangling University.
After spending a day as a human billboard at Guangling University, he returned to the research institute and received a call from Professor Wen Zhengyang.
“We’ve started a new research project on clouds,” Wen Zhengyang said. “If you have time now, I have a question about the Navier-Stokes equations that I’d like to ask you.”
"I dare not accept such praise, please speak," Ji Zhixing said.
He didn't rush to ask about the specifics, as most of the institute's projects were classified. However, he guessed that it was probably influenced by the firefighting efforts during the last typhoon; perhaps Professor Wen and his team wanted to try controlling the clouds for precise rainfall? After all, while current artificial rainmaking technology is mature, it is quite limited by natural conditions and cannot arbitrarily determine the amount, timing, and location of rainfall as needed.
While there is successful experience in controlling typhoons and extinguishing fires, if the fire originates in the mainland, the typhoon's journey will not only take a long time, but no matter how well its path is planned, it will inevitably have some impact along its route.
If we can control clouds to bring rain in a targeted manner, then problems such as wildfires, high-rise building fires, and even regional droughts can be solved more easily.
Ji Zhixing's guess was correct. Although Wen Zhengyang and his team's research also had the military purpose of controlling clouds to interfere with fighter jets, it was also an important research objective for people's livelihood, such as alleviating drought and extinguishing fires.
However, they are now stuck on a small problem.
"Unlike artificial rainmaking technology, which is limited by natural conditions, we hope to take control of the dynamic process. Therefore, we proposed a parallel computation model of the NS equations based on MPI hybrid programming. However, the problem lies in discretizing the NS equations in a finite space..."
As Ji Zhixing listened, he mused in his mind: "Could we try introducing a vertical bidirectional parallel algorithm for 3D meshes based on MPI+OpenMP...?"
More than an hour later, the two finally came up with a suitable solution.
Wen Zhengyang breathed a sigh of relief, then, thinking of Ji Zhixing's project, asked with concern, "How's your vacuum energy research going?"
"We're stuck." Ji Zhixing had a headache just thinking about it. "The main problem is that the vortex structure we observed is affected by the giant magnetoresistance effect... and there's also the quantum radiation pressure effect of cold fusion, etc. Sigh! It's a long story."
Wen Zhengyang thought for a moment and said, "I can't help you with anything else, but if you want to isolate the effects of the giant magnetoresistance, I can introduce you to the Jinping Underground Laboratory, where the physical conditions can be met."
"Really? That's great!" Ji Zhixing hadn't expected such a result from just one phone call.
The Jinping Underground Laboratory is one of the world's deepest underground laboratories, reaching a depth of 2,400 meters and a volume of 120,000 cubic meters. Its main research areas include nuclear astronomical reactions and dark matter. Therefore, during its planning and construction, great emphasis was placed on "cleanliness," reducing the cosmic ray flux to one ten-millionth to one hundred-millionth of that at ground level—a level that its high-purity germanium detector, located 100 meters underground, could not achieve.
With Wen Zhengyang's intervention, Ji Zhixing was granted the opportunity to borrow a workroom in the Jinping underground laboratory for two days. After isolating the interference of the giant magnetoresistance effect, he accurately obtained important data such as the vorticity of vacuum energy, vortex core, and extensive boundary layer.
If what they previously "saw" as a blurry shadow, they can now "see" it in minute detail. Of course, clearer observation does not mean a method for capturing it has been found; vacuum energy remains like a rainbow in the sky—visible but unattainable.
However, it's always a good thing to be able to "see" more clearly, since their experimental research progress has been stalled for five months.
Meanwhile, Yi Yan and the others also concluded their two- or three-day academic conference and returned to the research institute.
Stepping out of the lab and engaging in academic exchanges with others proved effective. Upon returning, Yi Yan proposed applying stress to vacuum energy and observing its morphological changes, such as bending, twisting, adhesion, and fracture. Lin Yujing suggested discussing the relationship between reduced mass and scale to deduce the constraints on stable quantum fluctuations. Others also offered various new ideas.
After a group workshop, everyone began to explore methods for capturing vacuum energy according to the new experimental design.
The turning point came unexpectedly. One day, the newly arrived MSR910A quantum spectrum analyzer output an analysis report with extremely abnormal peak values.
“This is…” Ji Zhixing frowned as he looked at the report.
The report paper shows a wavelet curve representing quantum fluctuations. The overall trend is flat, but there is a sudden and rapid spike in the middle, even exceeding the upper limit of the instrument analysis.
This could be due to improper operation, instrument malfunction, or... perhaps we just captured vacuum energy?!
The thought of this possibility made Ji Zhixing's hands tremble as he held the report, and everyone in the lab was incredibly excited.
Although the exact cause of the peak was unclear, to rule out operational errors and instrument malfunctions, the experiment was repeated. This time, the spike did not occur…
After a moment of silence in the lab, Ji Zhixing encouraged, "Try again!"
However, the experiment was repeated three or four times, until the moon was high in the sky, but the wavelet curve output by the quantum spectrum analyzer remained so flat that it was disheartening.
In the days that followed, everyone kept analyzing, repeating, and working backward from the experiment, but they still couldn't get the results they wanted.
"Is that peak actually...?" Shan Yan finally couldn't help but ask.
No one spoke, and no one offered an answer.
Is that 0.0001-second peak a true test result or just an accident or mistake?
Did that 0.0001-second peak actually come from the vacuum energy they so desperately wanted?
Have their experiments over this period been successful, or have they once again gone astray?
"If I had never seen the light, I could have endured the darkness." If that 0.0001-second peak had never occurred, people wouldn't be so anxious and uncertain as they are now.
Two more months passed, and Ji Zhixing even purchased another MSR910A quantum spectrum analyzer.
The discarded report papers piled up to the ceiling, teetering on the verge of collapse, just like everyone's confidence.
The atmosphere in the laboratory grew increasingly silent, and everyone felt as if their brains had been emptied out.
Once another seminar officially began, not a single person uttered a word.
Deng suddenly blurted out, "Let's sacrifice a researcher to the heavens!"
The previously silent group couldn't help but laugh, teasing Deng Yi a few times, and the air in the seminar room began to flow again. But the relaxed atmosphere didn't last long, and the atmosphere gradually became tense again.
Ji Zhixing felt a heavy weight in his heart. Although Deng Yi's words were a joke, it showed that everyone had really been driven to the brink of despair by the pressure of the bottleneck.
The atmosphere grew increasingly somber when Ji Zhixing suddenly spoke up: "I have an idea."
Everyone immediately raised their heads and turned towards Ji Zhixing like sunflowers, hoping that he could bring sunshine to dispel the gloom.
"In 1865, Pasteur began developing a vaccine to prevent smallpox. After a long period of failures, he took a break, and a batch of bacteria expired—it was this expired bacteria that led Pasteur to success by accident."
"In 1928, Fleming began researching methods to kill Staphylococcus aureus. After a long period of failures, he took a break. When he returned to the laboratory, he found that the petri dishes were growing bluish-green mold that was devouring Staphylococcus aureus—and then he successfully developed penicillin."
"In 1982, Marshall decided to culture Helicobacter pylori in the laboratory to study stomach diseases. After a long period of failures, he took a break and found that the culture medium he had forgotten was full of colonies—this was the Helicobacter pylori he wanted."
Ji Zhixing glanced around: "What does this mean?"
Those who can get into Zhixing Research Institute are naturally all top students, with reading comprehension being a piece of cake, but does the boss mean something like...?
“These examples all illustrate one point: when you really can’t do an experiment, you have to take a long vacation!” Ji Zhixing tried to put on a relaxed smile. “Anyway, it’s almost Chinese New Year, let’s take a month’s vacation early and go back to relax.”
A note from the author:
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