Chapter 304 - 274: Mr. Yang

Chapter 304: Chapter 274: Mr. Yang

This one paper, for the first time, created a one-to-one correspondence between gauge fields and fiber bundles in mathematics, single-handedly building a bridge between physics and math.

Later generations called it the Wu-Yang dictionary.

In this dictionary, every page said the same thing...

This column of physical quantities corresponds to that column of mathematical objects.

After this dictionary was published, the world of mathematics was profoundly shaken.

Mathematics and physics, two rivers that had originally flowed their separate courses, began to merge into the same sea from that year onward.

And then,

the whole of Yang-Mills gauge theory gave rise to four Fields Medal laureates.

Delinfield, Jones, Donaldson, and Witten.

One can’t say that Mr. Yang was personally responsible for all of them.

But the core of the blade each one wielded grew out of the Yang-Mills equation.

The most direct case was Delinfield.

He named a class of quantum groups "Yangian."

It was a tribute to the old man before him.

As for Mr. Yang’s own deep connection to the Langlands Program, it was even more inextricable.

In 2007,

Kapustin and Witten proved something.

The geometric Langlands duality is equivalent to S-duality in four-dimensional N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory.

In layman’s terms...

It’s the duality of strong and weak electromagnetic coupling.

So what did this mean?

The most abstract strand of symmetry in the purely mathematical Langlands Program, and the deepest strand of symmetry in the physical theories describing the fundamental interactions of nature—

Their structure is one and the same.

Li Dong had read this paper himself.

He knew the weight behind it.

He recalled something he had said last year on a lecture stage at Zhejiang University, to a room full of graduate students.

"Prime numbers and quantum mechanics—when God was casting lots, he used the same hand."

To put it simply, what the old man before him today had done his whole life was...

He made the whole world realize that the thing behind God’s hand was the gauge field.

So, as Li Dong sat here today,

he wasn’t just facing a centenarian physicist.

He was facing the very bridge between physics and mathematics from the latter half of the twentieth century.

Mr. Yang looked at him, seeming to have seen what he was thinking.

He didn’t continue on the topic of the Langlands Program. Instead, he said,

"I’ve heard Gao Yuanlin mention you before."

Li Dong subconsciously glanced at Gao Yuanlin.

Gao Yuanlin stared straight ahead at Mr. Yang, pretending he hadn’t heard a thing.

Li Dong: ...

"That’s why I’m very interested in you."

"As for why you came today,"

"I’ve already heard the gist of it from Gao Yuanlin."

"You want to ask about gauge fields, is that it?"

Li Dong nodded.

Mr. Yang then teased him.

"Aren’t you a mathematician?"

"How did you get interested in physics?"

Li Dong answered frankly.

"Mr. Yang, what I love most is physics."

"Mathematics is just a hobby."

Hearing this, Gao Yuanlin, who was sitting nearby, nearly spat out the mouthful of tea he had just taken.

’You?

Love physics the most?

If you love physics the most, why are you trying to put the final capstone on the Langlands Program?’

Mr. Yang, however, didn’t answer immediately.

He gave Li Dong a long, deep look.

"A hobby?"

"You can get these kinds of results from just a hobby?"

After saying this, he waved his hand dismissively.

"Never mind."

"I’m not surprised by your answer."

"People in our line of work are often like that."

"The first string that resonated with them was physics."

"But the blade they become most skilled with is mathematics."

"By the time they’re old and look back, they can’t even tell which one was their main profession."

He smiled warmly.

"So, what is it you’ve come to learn about in a systematic way?"

"Is it gauge fields and atomic-scale symmetry? Are you learning about it for the sake of your mathematics?"

Li Dong thought for a moment, carefully organizing his thoughts before speaking.

"Mr. Yang, I’m looking into this for a problem in chemistry."

He said it very directly.

Gao Yuanlin rolled his eyes.

’And you call yourself a physics lover?

You’ve somehow ended up in chemistry.’

But to Gao Yuanlin’s surprise,

after hearing the word "chemistry," Mr. Yang actually nodded.

He gave Li Dong an approving look.

"You’ve done well."

"We physicists don’t just solve physics problems."

"There’s been one rule in this field from the very beginning."

"The universe doesn’t divide itself into disciplines."

"When you look at an atom, all the things attached to it..."

"Electromagnetism, gravity, strong and weak interactions, chemical bonds, statistics, thermodynamics."

"You can’t separate them even if you want to."

"The previous generation liked to draw very clear lines between disciplines."

"If someone in condensed matter physics started working on catalysis, they’d be criticized for not sticking to their job."

"If someone in high-energy physics dabbled in a bit of cosmology, people would say the kid was getting ahead of himself."

"But if you look back at the history of science,"

"the ones who achieved truly great things—not one of them locked themselves in the little cage of a single discipline for their entire life."

"Fermi worked his way from theory all the way to engineering."

"Landau had a hand in every field."

"Dirac was originally an electrical engineer."

He chuckled.

"Li Dong."

"You’re willing to cross from mathematics to physics, and then from physics to chemistry, all for a single problem in chemistry."

"That is the right step to take."

He spoke these words without a hint of condescension.

After listening, Li Dong also relaxed a little.

"Mr. Yang."

"So, the specific question I want to ask is about the symmetry structure in an X-ray-excited resonant tunneling process."