1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 562: The mystery of the disappearance of antimatter! The Big Bang theory is perfected again! The universe is asymmetrical! Shocking everyone!

Many people must be curious: "Why is our universe like this?"

There are many more questions before this one.

Question: “What is the origin of the universe?”

Answer: "The universe originated from a big bang that occurred at a singularity with infinite density and infinitely small volume."

Another question: "After infinitesimal things exploded to form the universe, where did matter come from?"

Answer: "Matter comes from quantum vacuum fluctuations. The vacuum zero-point energy formed after the explosion creates all matter."

Then ask: "Among these created substances, is there any antimatter?"

Answer: "According to theoretical predictions, yes, and a lot."

Another question: "Why is our current universe a positive universe, rather than an anti-universe composed of antimatter?"

This is the question Einstein posed.

Everyone exclaimed!
This question is too difficult to answer.

It's a bit like asking "Why is the speed of light 3×10^8m/s?"

Because that's the reality.

Anthropic Law!

If this were not the case, you, Einstein, would not have come to ask this question.

Everyone felt that Professor Bruce definitely didn't know the answer to the question.

However, amid everyone's incredulous gazes, Li Qiwei smiled calmly and said confidently:
"I have two guesses about this question."

boom!
The whole audience was shocked!

This is too powerful!
"I can't even think of one, but Professor Bruce has two conjectures."

"Professor Bruce's conjectures often turn out to be correct in the end."

"The boss said guessing is modesty, we said guessing is blind guessing."

Amid the murmurs of the crowd, Li Qiwei's first words shocked the entire audience.

"I think that at the beginning of the Big Bang, the matter created by vacuum quantum fluctuations was not only matter, but also antimatter!"

Wow!
Everyone was shocked!

Professor Bruce actually combined antimatter and the Big Bang theory together.

Just like the quantum vacuum fluctuation three days ago!
At this moment, everyone was shocked!

Unbelievable!

"The Big Bang theory is a conjecture proposed by Professor Bruce more than a decade ago."

“It was just an empty shell then, but now, its content is constantly being enriched.”

"Professor Bruce is perfecting this theory of the origin of the universe bit by bit!"

Everyone suddenly felt like they were witnessing history.

They watched the Big Bang theory develop.

The most amazing thing is that the Big Bang, which was derived from the general theory of relativity, is so closely related to quantum mechanics.

This makes people can't help but sigh at the ingenuity of the world.

There seems to be some deeper order in the universe.

Einstein looked excited and his eyes were shining.

The moment he heard Bruce's first words, he had already roughly guessed what was going to happen next.

"Amazing, really amazing!"

Amid the shock of the crowd, Li Qiwei continued:
"The first conjecture is that at the beginning of the universe, the amount of matter and antimatter was the same."

"Logically, in this situation, all matter and antimatter would be annihilated into photons, and the universe would be filled with endless electromagnetic waves."

"But now the existence of the universe proves that some special changes must have occurred between these positive and negative matter."

"This change causes the antimatter to disappear faster than the matter."

"Even if it's just a tiny difference of one billionth, it will form a huge gap on the scale of the universe."

"After billions of years of expansion and evolution, the antimatter disappeared, leaving only a negligible amount."

"So there is no macroscopic antimatter in our universe."

“As to what exactly this [change] is, we don’t know.”

"But the result of the change is that the universe favors matter over antimatter."

Wow!
There was an exclamation in the venue!
This conjecture is well-founded and logically rigorous.

Sounds very reasonable!
Of course, we don’t know what the most critical change is yet.

So, it can only be a guess.

Even so, it's amazing enough.

Einstein exclaimed:
"To prove this conjecture, we must conduct a systematic study of the properties of antimatter."

"We know nothing about it right now."

"If antimatter has a special mechanism in certain physical and chemical reactions, it may explain why there is a difference in the amount of antimatter and positive matter."

Upon hearing this, all the bosses nodded in agreement.

Although there is no direct evidence for Professor Bruce's conjecture, it points out the direction.

For physics research, direction is extremely important.

At this time, many people are looking forward to:

"What's the second guess?"

In the corner of the stage, there was a young man with an excited expression.

He was extremely grateful to his mentor for bringing him to sit in on the meeting.

"Professor, what do you think the second conjecture will be?"

Polanyi looked at this proud student and chuckled:
"Vigna, you are deliberately making things difficult for me."

"If I had known, I would have been the one giving the speech on the stage."

The young man was none other than Dirac’s future brother-in-law, Wigner.

Wigner, 22, is currently a doctoral student in chemistry at the Technical University of Berlin.

That's why his mentor Polanyi was able to take advantage of his proximity and bring him into the conference to attend.

Although Wigner's major was chemistry, he was very interested in physics.

That's why he tried every possible means to attend this meeting, even if he could only be an observer.

In real history, Wigner, like his brother-in-law Dirac, was extremely low-key.

Wigner was born in Budapest, Hungary, and showed extraordinary mathematical talent from an early age.

So his father sent him to the best secondary school in Hungary, thinking that he would be able to keep accounts when he returned home in the future.

At school, Wigner met his future lifelong friend, John von Neumann.

Thus, his mathematical dream was shattered.

In the face of von Neumann's mathematical talent and strength, Wigner felt deeply inferior.

He felt that his mathematical talent was exaggerated by his incompetent teacher, and was nothing compared to von Neumann.

Well, I have to change my career, otherwise I will just be a "second-rate mathematician" for the rest of my life.

At his father's suggestion, Wigner chose to study chemistry at the Technical University of Berlin.

Because his father ran a leather company, the family business had a certain relationship with chemistry.

Wigner didn't think too much about it, so he switched to studying chemistry.

At the Technical University of Berlin in Germany, he often had the opportunity to attend various academic seminars held by the Berlin Physical Society.

At the meeting, he met many famous figures such as Einstein, Laue, Heisenberg, and Pauli.

Wigner suddenly found that he seemed to be more interested in physics.

And this time, he did not develop an inferiority complex thinking that he would become a second-rate physicist.

This shows the power of von Neumann.

After Dr. Wigner graduated, his mentor Polanyi was shocked when he heard that his favorite student was going home to inherit the leather factory.

Polanyi persuaded Wigner to study physics and personally introduced him to a physics tutor.

At first, Wigner's father disagreed, but later, he was moved by his son's determination and love, so he agreed.

In this way, Wigner switched from chemistry to physics.

And this time, he will embark on his own awesome journey!
He not only published important results in the fields of nuclear research and strong interactions.

And under the influence of his new mentor, he began to come into contact with and study quantum mechanics.

One of the results had a profound impact on the development of quantum mechanics.

Just by listening to its name, you can tell how awesome it is: parity!

At this moment, the young Wigner did not know that he would pursue a career in physics.

He looked at Professor Bruce on the stage, his eyes almost shining.

"Too strong! Too strong!"

"Professor Bruce is my idol!"

“Maybe I should study physics?”

When he returned to his hometown in Hungary, his good friend John von Neumann boasted about him.

"Old Wei, the last time Professor Bruce traveled around the world and passed through Hungary, you didn't attend that speech. You missed out."

Vigner curled his lips and said sourly:

"Come on, everyone knows that you were publicly praised by Professor Bruce."

"You don't study physics, why are you joining in the fun?"

Von Neumann just laughed.

Thinking about these interesting things, a smile appeared on Wigner's lips again.

"If I switch to physics, Old Feng will be surprised."

"I can't beat him in math, but I can definitely beat him in physics."

The atmosphere at the meeting was so lively that no one paid attention to Wigner, an unknown person.

At this moment, Li Qiwei looked at the shocked expressions of the crowd and felt emotional.

The second conjecture will lead to a dramatic story in the world of physics.

And the protagonists of the story are all Chinese!

Restraining his excitement, Li Qiwei continued:

"The second conjecture is that at the beginning of the universe, due to some principle, the amount of positive matter was slightly greater than that of antimatter."

"For every billion antimatter particles, there are a billion matter particles and one matter particle."

"When billions of particles annihilate each other, the remaining one billionth forms the universe we have today."

"That's why we can't find macroscopic antimatter, because it is consumed directly when it is created."

"The above are my two conjectures about macroscopic antimatter."

Wow!
Everyone was shocked!

This conjecture sounds simpler, but also more incredible!
That is, "Why did the amount of positive and negative matter in the universe differ at the beginning?"

“Why is it not symmetrical?”

symmetry!

The concept of formal beauty pursued by this physicist has long been deeply rooted in people's hearts.

Many phenomena in nature are symmetrical.

Humans are bilaterally symmetrical, and planets are symmetrical. Therefore, physicists simply believe that all phenomena will tend to be symmetrical.

So why is there asymmetry when the Big Bang produces matter and antimatter?

Looking at everyone's puzzled expressions, Li Qiwei said:
"I know that after hearing this conjecture, you will definitely want to continue asking questions immediately."

"Why was there more matter than antimatter at the beginning of the universe?"

"Professor Bruce, you are suspected of confusing cause and effect."

"I have an explanation for this."

"But before that, I would like to introduce a woman."

"She is Emmy Noether, a mathematics professor at the University of Göttingen."

Wow!
Everyone was shocked!
Why did Professor Bruce suddenly introduce a mathematician?

Hearing the name Nott, Born in the audience sighed slightly.

This is also an amazing and strong woman, worthy of our sympathy and admiration.

Noether's status in mathematics is equivalent to that of Madame Curie and Meitner in physics, or even higher.

She has many titles: "the greatest female mathematician in history", "the mother of abstract algebra", and "the great pioneer of the algebraization of modern mathematics".

In real history, Noether was born in Germany in 1882 and her father was a professor of mathematics.

At the age of 18, Nott was admitted to the University of Erlangen in Germany, which was also the school her father attended.

But because she was a woman, she was not eligible to register for school and could only attend classes as an auditor at the university.

Moreover, even this opportunity to sit in on the trial was an opportunity that his father had to fight very hard to secure.

So Nott cherishes her life in college. She listens to lectures carefully and studies hard.

Like Madame Curie, Meitner and others, Noether also has a tenacious character and she never gives up!
At that time, there were only two female students at the University of Göttingen, including her. Noether always sat in the front row of the classroom and listened attentively.

Her diligence and eagerness to learn moved the professor, who made an exception and allowed her to take the graduation examination on the same basis as the boys.

Nott's grades were among the best and he passed the graduation exam successfully.

But unfortunately, all the boys got their diplomas, but because she was a woman, she was unable to obtain a diploma, becoming a university graduate without a diploma.

Her father was helpless about this and felt very guilty.

However, Noether did not lose heart. She still loved mathematics and often attended lectures by greats such as Hilbert and Minkowski.

It was eye-opening and empowering for her.

As a result, her desire to learn mathematics became stronger.

Later, the school reformed and allowed women to obtain degrees. Nott immediately returned to his alma mater and obtained a doctorate degree.

But even though she had a strong talent for mathematics, she never received normal respect.

No university would hire her.

It was not until later that the famous Hilbert noticed Noether's talent.

He went against all odds and invited Noether to work at the University of Göttingen, and also strongly recommended her as a lecturer.

The process was not smooth sailing.

Hilbert even went crazy at a discussion meeting opposing Noether's becoming a lecturer at the University of Göttingen:
"I simply cannot imagine that the gender of a candidate should be a reason to oppose her promotion to lectureship."

"Gentlemen! Don't forget! This is a university, not a bathhouse!"

Even someone as talented as Hilbert could not solve the problem of Noether being discriminated against, which shows how difficult life was for female scientists at that time.

Their difficulties do not come from their peers, but from the system and some twisted human hearts!

During her days at the University of Göttingen, Noether seemed to be on a roll. Perhaps she wanted to prove herself desperately and silence those who opposed her.

She showed extraordinary talent in the mathematical field of abstract algebra.

She revolutionized the theory of rings, fields, and algebra, and rocked the mathematical world!
Under the influence of Hilbert, Noether not only achieved great success in mathematics, but also ventured into the field of physics.

In 1918, she published a short paper.

In this paper, Noether proposed a theory that later had a profound impact on physics: Noether's theorem.

The famous Noether theorem can be well explained in one sentence:

"In a system, every [continuous] symmetry corresponds to a conserved quantity." (Note the word continuous)
In other words: conservation in this world comes from symmetry!

Okay, I’ve finished showing off. How should I understand this sentence?

In the physics community at that time, the law of conservation of energy was always regarded as something of an axiomatic nature.

Countless experiments have proved the correctness of the law of conservation of energy.

Therefore, few physicists consider why energy is conserved and whether there is a deeper mechanism behind it.

But mathematicians are different from physicists; they like to get to the bottom of things.

After all, mathematicians even don't let go of 1+1=2, so why do you say that energy is conserved?

After studying this problem, Noether proved mathematically that conservation is due to symmetry!

Energy conservation is due to the symmetry of time translation!
To put it in a more vivid way, any identical physical process, carried out at different times, will produce the same result.

For example, you throw a small ball down from the third floor.

Assume that the force and surroundings are the same each time.

So no matter whether you throw in the morning or afternoon, today or tomorrow, the process of the ball falling must be the same.

The acceleration is the same, the final landing speed is the same, and so on.

In short, no matter when you do this experiment, the process and results will definitely be the same.

This sounds reasonable and consistent with human intuition.

Then why does time translation symmetry mean energy conservation?
Think of it this way.

After you take the ball to the third floor and don't throw it first, does the ball have potential energy?

Now, what happens if the time translation is not symmetric?
Maybe the next day, the value of gravity acceleration g suddenly becomes larger.

Then the potential energy of the ball will become greater, and obviously, energy is not conserved at this time.

But countless experiments have proved that energy is conserved.

This means that time translation must be symmetric.

This is the connotation of Noether's theorem.

“Conservation laws come from the symmetry of nature.”

The profound connection between them gives physics a deeper structure and connotation.

We learned in the third grade of elementary school that in addition to the conservation of energy, there are also conservation of momentum and conservation of angular momentum in physics.

So what symmetries do they correspond to respectively?

Conservation of momentum arises from the translational symmetry of space.

That is, a physical process, no matter where in space it occurs, does not change as the location changes.

Any experiment done at any time and in any place should produce the same results.

Otherwise, human scientific system cannot be established.

In "The Three-Body Problem", why can Sophon block the basic science of the Earth?

Because it allows physicists to get different results from the same experiment at different times and places.

So "physics no longer exists".

The conservation of angular momentum originates from the rotational symmetry of space.

That is, the result of any physical process is the same in either direction.

The movement trajectories of electrons are the same whether the magnetic field is facing north or south.

This is the relationship between conservation laws and symmetry.

Doesn’t it feel easy to understand? You can understand it at once.

You might even think: Isn’t this nonsense?
Even people who have never been to school know this.

That’s right, physicists at the time also thought that Noether’s paper was full of nonsense.

"Isn't this an obvious conclusion?"

"Do you need to prove it mathematically?"

"Even if it can't be proven, what's the impact? The physics community will still use it normally."

In addition, due to Noether's identity as a woman, not many people paid attention to her paper.

Moreover, Noether's main job was mathematics, so he could not endorse his physics papers.

Noether himself did not take this paper seriously, but instead devoted himself to mathematical research.

Finally, as her fame grew, in 1922, at the strong recommendation of Hilbert, Noether was hired as a professor at the University of Göttingen.

Sadly, her professorship was unpaid, which was very different from Born, who was also a professor at the University of Göttingen.

That is why Born admired Noether so much, just as he admired Madame Curie.

At this moment, when Li Qiwei finished explaining Noether's theory, many people disagreed.

“Oh, I think I’ve seen this paper.”

"The idea is very unique, but it doesn't seem to have any practical theoretical use."

"And does this paper have anything to do with antimatter?"

"."

Most people don't know what Professor Bruce's intention is.

Even Born, who had met Noether several times, looked puzzled. He asked:

"Professor Bruce, I have read Professor Nott's paper."

"But does it have anything to do with what you said about there being less antimatter than matter?"

Li Qiwei smiled slightly when he heard this.

He looked at Born and everyone else's puzzled eyes and felt emotional.

Noether's theorem is not only useful, it is very useful.

It provided a theoretical framework for later gauge symmetry theory, quantum field theory, and even string theory.

Although the content of Noether's theorem itself is very simple, the physical and even philosophical significance it represents is very profound.

It reveals the mathematical beauty behind nature.

If symmetry is a symbol of beauty, then when symmetry is broken, it is the ultimate madness of beauty!
Li Qiwei's answer shocked everyone.

"According to Professor Noether's theory, all conservation in nature comes from symmetry."

"It's not just her, many physicists believe that our natural world is symmetrical as a matter of course."

"So at the beginning of the Big Bang, there should be an equal amount of matter and antimatter."

"Because this is more in line with the beauty of the creation of the universe."

Everyone nodded, this is what they thought in their hearts.

“But I have a bold idea.”

"If my second conjecture is correct, does it mean that some phenomena in the universe are asymmetric?"

"Because of some asymmetry, more matter than antimatter is produced at the moment of the explosion."

“Then we have the world we have now.”

"In other words, although our universe is beautiful because of its symmetry, it itself comes from asymmetry!"

boom!
quiet!
Deathly silence!

Everyone was stunned with shock!

"This"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

(End of this chapter)