Orion Crest, Series_2

Chapter 110: Dannie Heineman Prize

　　Office of the School of Mathematics at the Gordon University.

　　"You're not working on that mass gap problem?"

　　Hearing Academician Stewart's words, Orion looked at him with a puzzled expression. "Why?"

　　Stewart said in a somewhat anxious tone, "Then why are you messing with the space shuttle!"

　　Oh, so that's what this is all about. Ever since the Gordon Daily News article about Star Technology's space base settling in Gordon was published, in the past two days, his office had received an average of a dozen phone calls every day, among them there were those who asked him if he needed a loan, there were also those who asked him if he needed to finance the project, and even some were concerned about the progress of the project....

　　Hearing this, Orion instantly realised what Professor Stewart was thinking and explained. "The report may have messed up a little bit, the shuttle is mainly on the side of ...... StarTech, and I'm just contributing a little bit of money."

　　Stewart sighed and continued in a heavy tone, "I'm not worried that your research has gone wrong, I'm just worried that you've lost your way! Although it is probably not appropriate for me to say this, your mind is just too mixed up. If you could calm down and concentrate on physics, your achievements might even be comparable to those of Newton and Einstein someday in the future. Aren't you putting the cart before the horse by doing some kind of spaceflight now!"

　　Orion: "But if that were the case, there wouldn't be any controlled fusion being born."

　　Hearing these words, Academician Stewart froze slightly and did not say anything for a while.

　　Orion paused and continued. "The study of theoretical science is an interesting thing, and I have always thought so. Yet science isn't just the theoretical part of it; it's also interesting to see how we can use the knowledge we have to change the world."

　　"The mass gap, for example," Orion continued after a moment's pause, "if my speculation is correct, it will be our key to the miniaturisation of controlled fusion, and that was one of my main motivations for choosing it as a research topic."

　　"Miniaturisation of controlled fusion!" A flash of shock surfaced on the face of Academician Stewart. "Is it really that simple?"

　　"Simple is impossible, but we've found a line of thought where the possibility exists, and as for whether or not we can achieve it in the end, it's too early to discuss that." While saying this, Orion's tone wasn't relaxed, but there wasn't much heaviness on his face.

　　Looking at the expression on his face, Stewart fell silent ......

......

　　In the Director's office at the Institute of Physics, Orion and Wynston, both standing side by side in front of a blackboard, looking at the lines of arithmetic scribbled on it.

　　"A paper in annals of mathematics, 1974 ...... how many pages I can't quite remember, when Witten showed it to me," Wynston continued, after a moment of careful recollection. "It mentioned a possible method."

　　[The simplest case of the energy density with standard order is λφ^4 + φ squared, where 0 < λ ≪ 1 ......]

　　As he writes this, Wynston pauses and looks back to Orion, "The existence and uniqueness of this field has been proven, and I can give you that paper later."

　　"Okay," Orion nodded, "go ahead."

　　"...... The mass of this field satisfies m=√(2+O(λ^3))"