Chapter 172: European Conference on Nuclear Research

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

At the end of the month, the European Nuclear Research Conference was held as scheduled in the largest conference room on the R1 floor.

Professor Lu arrived early and looked at his watch before he turned to Yan Xinjue, “Where’s Lu Zhou?”

Yan Xinjue was also confused and he shook his head as said, “I didn’t see him.”

He went to knock on Lu Zhou’s door in the morning, but no one was in his room. Yan Xinjue did not know where Lu Zhou went.

The conference was about to begin.

Professor Gao from the University of Shuimu sat next to Profesor Lu. When he saw the empty seat, he asked, “Old Lu, why isn’t your student here?”

Professor Lu shook his head and said, “I don’t know what that kid is doing all day, who cares about him…”

Soon after, the conference room quieted down. The head of CERN, Lynn Evans, stepped onto the podium and began with the opening remarks.

“Thank you to the cooperation teams from various institutes and laboratories around the world for their contributions to this experiment. After years of unremitting exploration, we finally discovered pentaquark Pc+. Our findings does not explain everything, but fortunately, the standard model once again predicts its existence…”

“… The physical properties of Pc+ particles have been completed by the LHCb International Research Cooperation Group. Please ask the responsible persons of each cooperation group to go to the stage for a presentation.”

The audience applauded. Evans nodded slightly before he gave the microphone to the head of LHCb research group.

Professor Gao slowly stood up. He nodded at Professor Lu before he then walked over to the aisle and to the back of the conference venue.

Professor Gao was the head of the China research group. He would speak on behalf of China and report on the full spectrum analysis.

When Professor Gao arrived to the backstage of the conference room, he suddenly saw a familiar face.

The other party obviously saw him as he stood up and took the initiative to say hello.

“Professor Gao, hello!”

“Hello, you are…”

“I’m Lu Zhou!”

Lu Zhou greeted Professor Gao and grinned.

Although he was a bit nervous in his heart, he controlled his emotion and did not look nervous at all.

He was nervous because this was completely different than the Princeton conference. Almost half of the world’s top theoretical physicists were sitting here. Some of them had even won the Nobel Prize.

This type of international presenation conference was not comparable to the academic conferences.

Also, Lu Zhou was here with a different objective.

“Lu Zhou… You’re Professor Lu’s student?” said Professor Gao Yuanping as he had a moment of realization. Suddenly, he asked with surprise, “Why are you here?”

Lu Zhou smiled and sighed, “Long story…”

He was about to explain his matter in detail when a CERN staff member walked in all of a sudden.

“Is Gao Yuanping here?”

“Here,” said Professor Gao as he nodded.

The staff member said respectfully, “It’s your turn to make the report. Come with me.”

“Sure, take me there.”

The staff member nodded and Professor Gao looked at Lu Zhou with a strange expression. However, he did not say anything and merely walked away with the staff member.

…

On the stage, Professor Gao reported the work of China’s full spectrum analysis and answered several questions from reporters.

After that, he went back to the backstage lounge and was ready to talk to Lu Zhou, but he could not find him.

“How strange…”

Professor Gao was confused. He then left the lounge and returned to the venue. He sat back down in his seat.

He then looked at Professor Gao and whispered, “Guess who I just met in the backstage lounge?”

Professor Lu looked at him in confusion as he asked, “Who?”

Academician Gao smiled and said, “Your student.”

Professor Lu looked at his side and saw Yan Xinjue still sitting there. He he then looked back and asked, “You’re talking about… Lu Zhou?”

“Yeah,” said Professor Gao with a nod.

Professor Lu asked, “Why is he there?”

Professor Gao shook his head and said, “I think it’s strange too. I was about to ask him but he left.”

Professor Lu raised his eyebrows. He felt something was wrong but he soon pushed the matter aside because the conference had entered into the next stage.

Reports on the full spectrum analysis of the Pc+ particles had come to an end. Next was the reports on the various LHC experiment findings.

Most of the people on stage were researchers who were involved in the experiment. Most of the people were from CERN and LHC.

After all, the experiment data was for a specific particle, but not all of the data was about the particle. The random collision of the proton beam produced some interesting new discoveries.

Some of these new discoveries were useful while others were useless.

It could even be said that the second half of the conference was the most interesting part.

If a more valuable discovery was found, CERN might even change the experimental direction of the LHC.

Professor Lu took out a small notebook and was ready to write notes.

Suddenly, he was stunned.

It was not just him that was stunned.

Yan Xinjue and Professor Gao was also shocked.

The person on stage was none other than…

His own student…

Lu Zhou.

…

On the other side of the venue, Frank Wilczek and Peter Higgs sat together and were chatting about the contents of the report.

“Don’t you think the recent LHCb discovery warrants a Nobel Prize?”

Peter Higgs heard his old friend’s question and shook his head, “There’s no doubt that this is the most valuable research result this year, but it might not be enough for a Nobel prize. This year’s medal should be awarded to the neutrino oscillation experiment. Do you want to bet on it?”

“Haha, no thanks,” said Frank when he heard the bet. Awkward, he coughed, “I recently quit gambling.”

“I can’t believe it. You’re quitting? What happened?” asked Peter Higgs as he looked at his old friend. He was astonished. Higgs did not go on Twitter, so he was not up to date with the recent events.

‘Nothing, just something small. Let’s not talk about it,” said Frank. He cleared his throat and changed the subject, “Focus on the next report as it is the main event.”

Peter Higgs asked casually, “Oh, is there something worth looking forward to?”

“Of course, I’m confident that you’ll be shocked by the discovery,” said Frank. He grinned and continued, “Let’s bet $100.”

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