Reborn Before the Apocalypse: My Backing is the Nation

Chapter 32 Five Alternatives (3rd update, please continue reading)

Faced with Lu Zhaoming's judgment that left no room for negotiation, all members of the scientific community remained silent, clearly agreeing with his assessment.

Sun Changhe's tone remained calm yet solemn: "If we lose hope, and the apocalypse comes in ten days, we will all die... is there nothing we can do?"

I don’t think so.

Let's not forget what we did during the second and third cycles that Comrade Jiang Yang experienced!

If it weren't for our past two lives, we wouldn't even be able to make this judgment now!
In this life we ​​may die, we may fail, but in the next life we ​​still have hope!

Professor Lu, at this stage, what are the key points and difficulties in solving the apocalypse?

Professor Lu Zhaoming remained silent for a long time before saying, "We need to figure out what these highly penetrating radiation particles are, that can interact with the human body, cause the atoms inside the human body to be excited to form secondary radiation, and then cause the human body to die from acute radiation sickness, and through what mechanism they are produced."

Jiang Yang asked, "Professor Lu, what's your guess?"

He closed his eyes, thought for a moment, and then said, "It must have extremely strong penetrating power, otherwise it would be impossible to explain why it could not be spared even underground and underwater. As for lethality... let's not consider lethality for now."

Based solely on penetration ability, there are five candidates.

First, neutrinos.

Attendees without a scientific background were somewhat confused by the term.

Professor Lu said, "Neutrinos are highly penetrating microscopic particles that are mainly produced by nuclear reactions, such as nuclear fission and nuclear fusion."

Its penetrating power is so strong that it reaches an area about the size of a thumbnail on the human body, penetrating an average of 5 million neutrinos per second, yet the human body is completely unaware of it.

Even if the entire Earth were used as a barrier, neutrinos could still pass through without any hindrance.

If it were a neutrino, penetrating a kilometer-deep rock layer or a ten-thousand-meter-deep body of water would be no problem at all.

Second, Miao Zi.

Muons can be simply compared to larger electrons. Although they are charged, they are much heavier than electrons, which gives them extremely strong penetrating power, though of course, they are far less powerful than neutrinos.

If it is a high-energy muon, it can also penetrate a thousand-meter-thick rock layer or a ten-thousand-meter-deep body of water.

Third, gravitons.

The graviton is a particle that is currently speculated to be transmitting gravity, just as photons transmit electromagnetic force, gluons transmit strong nuclear force, and W and Z bosons transmit weak nuclear force.

If gravitons do exist and their properties are as we suspect, then gravitons would possess a penetrating power far exceeding that of neutrinos.

Even if we filled the entire universe with the same matter as Earth, gravitons could still pass through it almost without any hindrance.

Fourth, dark matter particles.

Dark matter is also a type of matter that we have hypothesized. We have some evidence to suggest that it is very likely to exist, but we have not been able to verify it so far.

If dark matter truly exists, then the particles that make it up must also possess extremely strong penetrability, perhaps even comparable to gravitons.

Fifth, unknown particles.

Of the first four, neutrinos and muons are those that have been discovered and confirmed, and their properties are well understood.

Gravitons and dark matter particles are covered by our physical theories and have been hypothesized, but have not yet been discovered in reality.

As for unknown particles... not only have they not been discovered, but our physical theories haven't even described or hypothesized about them.

Professor Lu looked at Jiang Yang and Sun Changhe: "There are only these five possibilities left."

Jiang Yang frowned slightly: "Strong penetrating power must indicate that the particle interacts weakly with matter. If the interaction is weak, how could these particles cause secondary radiation to our bodies?" Lu Zhaoming said: "But that's the fact. The several apocalypses you experienced, which clearly occurred underground where any radiation could be isolated, were caused by secondary radiation from external energy."

We have no other choice but to make this conjecture.

Sun Changhe asked solemnly, "How can we determine which possibility led to the apocalypse?"

Lu Zhaoming pondered: "At the moment the apocalypse arrives, the corresponding particles will inevitably be in a state of extreme explosion."

In this way... by detecting which particle exhibits anomalies when the apocalypse arrives, we can determine exactly which particle it is.

Muon detection is relatively simple; it can be detected in a cloud chamber.

Neutrino detection is quite difficult, but we have corresponding methods, such as using neutrino telescopes to detect them.

As for gravitons, we haven't confirmed their existence yet, but gravitational waves have been confirmed. We can detect them using gravitational wave telescopes.

There's no way to deal with dark matter and unknown particles.

Sun Changhe nodded slightly: "That's fine too, let's treat it as a process of elimination."

If the final detection results rule out muons, neutrinos, and gravitons, then it can be determined that it is either a dark matter particle or an unknown particle. It cannot be considered a fruitless discovery, as it can also point the way for the next life.

"The focus of detection should be on neutrinos and gravitational waves. Does our country currently have the corresponding detection capabilities?"

In response to Jiang Yang's question, Professor Lu Zhaoming looked somewhat somber: "my country has one neutrino telescope that is already in operation, the Luohong Neutrino Detector located at the foot of Luohong Mountain, and another one that has not yet been built, the Moriyama Neutrino Laboratory."

There are currently five scientific neutrino telescopes operating globally, excluding those in my country.

Regarding gravitational wave telescopes, there are three currently in operation globally. my country has two under construction, which are not yet completed.

In total, there are seven neutrino telescopes and three gravitational wave telescopes.

Jiang Yang's pupils contracted slightly: "Is relying solely on our country's resources enough?"

"not enough."

Professor Lu Zhaoming shook his head: "Even if we add the numbers from other countries, it's still not enough."

The detection time and window are too short, only a mere two minutes at the moment of doomsday.

To collect enough data in such a short time…

He gritted his teeth: "We need at least eight large-scale scientific research-grade neutrino telescopes and four large-scale scientific research-grade gravitational wave telescopes."

Given my country's industrial strength, the fact that a gravitational wave telescope and a neutrino telescope were built and put into operation within just ten days is a small but still hopeful endeavor.

The key question is, what about those overseas?
These large-scale scientific facilities, considered national treasures, are the lifeblood of their respective countries. How could we possibly expect them to cooperate with us, connect to our information networks, and be temporarily managed by us?

Jiang Yang remained silent.

He doesn't know much about international relations, but he is aware of the current world situation and the tensions in international relations.

Even in a peaceful environment, it would be unlikely to achieve such a significant technological collaboration, let alone under the current circumstances.

There's absolutely no way we can even think about it; there's no possibility at all.

unless……

(End of this chapter)