Starting from a top student and marching towards the sea of ​​stars

Chapter 81 You Should Change Your Subject
After the meeting, Qiu Chengtong did not leave immediately. After making eye contact with Ning Chen, he waved to Ning Chen to come over.

Ning Chen was sure that Qiu Chengtong was calling her, so she walked over.

"Ning Chen, I'm glad you're still here. This time you're the youngest among all the people. How is it? Do you feel stressed?"

Ning Chen also smiled and said:

"There will definitely be pressure, but I will definitely do my best to conduct research on the subject."

Ning Chen knew that although he had achieved remarkable results in the autumn competition, in the field of mathematics research, he had only published two papers in the second district.

Compared with those PhDs and masters from top universities, I still have a lot to improve.

"Well, I have great expectations for you, and I believe you will not disappoint me this time. Ning Chen, do you regret not accepting my invitation last time to come to the Department of Mathematics of Shuimu University to study as a graduate student?"

Ning Chen knew that whether he answered regretfully or not at this time, it was somewhat inappropriate.

After thinking about it, Ning Chen replied:
"Professor Qiu, I am still very confused about this choice, but now I still hope that I can focus on the research of the next topic."

"Haha, that's true. But you don't have to worry, no matter how many times you reject me, the door of Shuimu University will always be open for you. Whether you are a student of Shuimu University or not, I will do my best to help you grow. "

Qiu Chengtong really hoped that Huaguo's mathematics community would get better and better, so he naturally didn't care where a student came from.

Hearing Qiu Chengtong's words, Ning Chen was also very moved.

"Thank you Professor Qiu, I will not let you down."

……

In the following time, Ning Chen actively participated in the expert's open class every day, and chatted with other training camp students about many topics about mathematics.

These experts are all the top mathematics scholars in China, and even foreign scholars were invited by Qiu Chengtong, which allowed Ning Chen to learn a lot from them.

Regarding topic selection, Ning Chen also had some ideas, but he hadn't made a final decision yet.

On this day, Qiu Chengtong personally gave an open class to everyone.

In the open class, Qiu Chengtong told some stories about his experiences in mathematics research.

"You must know Calabi's conjecture, right?"

Hearing Qiu Chengtong's words, many students below nodded.

The Calabi conjecture, proposed by the Italian mathematician Calabi in 1954, discusses whether there is a gravitational field without matter distribution in a closed space.

This conjecture was proved by Qiu Chengtong himself 24 years later.

At this time, Qiu Chengtong was only 27 years old.

After that, Qiu Chengtong solved many mathematical problems in a row, and won the highest award in mathematics - the Fields Medal.

"But in fact, the Calabi conjecture has not been completely solved by me. I only solved the Calabi conjecture that the Chen class is negative and zero, and no one has successfully solved the Calabi conjecture that the Chen class is positive. If any of you If you are interested, you can try it later.”

When Qiu Chengtong said this, he was obviously joking, and everyone laughed after hearing it.

This is a mathematical conjecture that no one has solved for more than 50 years. Everyone knows that this problem is not something they can solve.

"Isn't Chen Leiwei's Calabi conjecture? Isn't this the famous Qiu Chengtong conjecture!"

Ning Chen also has some understanding of the content of this conjecture. Qiu Chengtong has put forward his own hypothesis on this issue, believing that the existence of the "Kahler-Einstein metric" in high-dimensional space with the first Chen type being positive can be solved , transformed into a stability problem of algebraic geometry.

As for whether this conjecture is correct, Qiu Chengtong himself has not been able to complete the proof.

"How about... just take this issue as my future research topic?"

At this time, Ning Chen suddenly had such an impulse.

However, Ning Chen also knew that solving this conjecture was far more difficult than the few topics Ning Chen had studied before.

Although the level of Qiu Chengtong's conjecture is still lower than Riemann's conjecture and Goldbach's conjecture, if Qiu Chengtong's conjecture can be solved, it will be enough to cause shocks in the world of mathematics.Ning Chen thought, anyway, he didn't think of any other good research topics for the time being, so why not go back and study it first.

After class, Ning Chen returned to his dormitory, looking for information about Qiu Chengtong's conjecture, and studied it carefully.

After some research, Ning Chen became more and more aware of the difficulty in solving this conjecture.

Even Qiu Chengtong himself has tried many methods, but they all ended in failure.

Ning Chen spent a few days and finally found a new and possible way to solve this problem.

"If the solution of this class of fourth-order completely nonlinear elliptic equations can be found, then this problem can be solved."

Looking at the equation that he had spent several days working out, Ning Chen felt like he had more than enough ambition but not enough power.

Although Ning Chen proposed a new direction, it was as if he only wrote the first step when he was doing the finale.

As for how to proceed with the remaining steps, Ning Chen has no idea yet.

However, the date for opening the topic and defense was very close, and Ning Chen didn't have time to change to other topics, so he had to bite the bullet and start PPT.

On the day when the topic opening defense began, each student participated in the opening topic defense in turn according to the order they had previously set.

Because time is a little rushed, the topics chosen by many students are relatively conservative, and the novelty and research significance are not so prominent.

Of course, Qiu Chengtong was very satisfied with the topics selected by some students. Once these topics are successfully studied, they will have high academic value.

"Okay, next classmate, Ning Chen!"

Hearing her name being called, Ning Chen walked in.

"Hello teachers, I am Ning Chen from Shengzhou University."

Qiu Chengtong had also been looking forward to Ning Chen's appearance for a long time, so he asked quickly:

"Ning Chen, tell me what topic you want to study."

Ning Chen opened his PPT and said to Qiu Cheng and the others:
"The topic of my research is Qiu Chengtong's conjecture."

Hearing Ning Chen's words, several professors, including Qiu Chengtong, were surprised.

After a few seconds, a professor next to Qiu Chengtong said:
"Ning Chen, in front of Professor Qiu Chengtong, you said that you want to study Qiu Chengtong's conjecture, you are really courageous."

Qiu Chengtong smiled and said:

"Courage is a good thing. When I was young, I was very courageous and dared to study the Calabi conjecture. In the end, I figured it out. If no one dares to study these difficult problems, then these conjectures will always be conjectures. That’s all.”

Qiu Chengtong expressed his affirmation of Ning Chen's bold topic selection, but Qiu Chengtong also wanted to know why Ning Chen dared to challenge this difficult problem that has troubled mathematicians around the world for more than 50 years.

"Ning Chen, first tell me why you chose this subject." Qiu Chengtong asked.

"Actually, I have considered several other topics before, but after I listened to Professor Qiu's open class, I became very interested in the Qiu Chengtong conjecture. After that, I spent a few days studying the Qiu Chengtong conjecture. There has only been a small amount of progress in the proof method.”

"This made me more aware of how difficult it is to solve Qiu Chengtong's conjecture, but at this time, it is too late for me to change the subject, so I have no choice but to choose it as my research subject this time."

Ning Chen truthfully recounted his experiences over the past few days, and Qiu Cheng and others couldn't help but laugh after hearing this.

"Of course, the few topics I have considered before are not very satisfactory in terms of novelty and research significance. Even if I can't solve Qiu Chengtong's conjecture in the end, I am willing to invest a few months of time and energy and do my best. power to try."

After listening to Ning Chen's explanation, Qiu Chengtong said to a professor next to him:
"Ning Chen, your courage is commendable, but I think your steps are still too big. Maybe in a few years, you will really have such strength, but it is difficult to challenge Qiu Chengtong's conjecture so early. The topic is still too early for you. I suggest you change the topic. There are still many topics that are more suitable for your research at this stage."

Before Ning Chen could answer, Qiu Chengtong said first:

"Professor Dong, don't rush to a conclusion yet. We haven't heard Ning Chen's defense process yet. Ning Chen, you just said that you have made some small progress, please show us."

(End of this chapter)