From all-round academic master to chief scientist

January 6, in the rotunda of the Poincaré Institute.

Lectures on Lin's group transformation method and Lin's conjecture are in progress.

"...I have to marvel at Lin's ingenious construction in this step. He successfully transformed this function into modular form. This is a very wonderful method. I can write four or five papers on this method, and In fact, I checked on arxiv before and was able to find 20 to 30 papers."

"It was during this step that Lin introduced his Lin's conjecture at last year's International Congress of Mathematicians. I believe everyone knows this, so I will deduce it again here."

As he spoke, Laurent Laforgue began to write on it.

"...It's easy. We got the final formula. Now as long as we can prove the form of K=1, we can guarantee that any function can be converted into a layer form. As for its importance, I think There’s no need to elaborate too much, everyone should know it.”

"Actually, the proposer of Lin's conjecture is also here today. If I have time later, I would also like to know if he has any ideas."

As Laurent Laforgue spoke out, everyone present couldn't help but turn their eyes to the side, where Lin Xiao was sitting.

Lin Xiao, who was suddenly cueed, smiled and nodded around.

But he felt as if there were still a few hateful eyes. He looked carefully and saw that they were the women he rejected last night?

He quickly looked away.

Men don’t fight with women.

Laurent Laforgue on the stage did not stop and continued.

"In Lin's thinking, I think the most important thing is the thinking about 'bridges'. Bridges in mathematics can connect two seemingly unrelated things. In fact, this is also true. Our past mathematics In research, we all need to build bridges, whether it is the modern algebraic geometry laid down by Grothendieck or the Langlands Program proposed by Mr. Langlands, they are all completed by constantly building bridges.”

"How to build a bridge, in addition to having strong skills like Lin, will also test your ability to observe various subtleties. The more carefully you observe, the more you will be able to discover details that are difficult for ordinary people to discover..."

Among the people present, in addition to well-known mathematicians, the largest number were students. After hearing Professor Laforgue's words, the students thought thoughtfully, and the mathematicians also nodded slightly and expressed agreement.

Lin Xiao's talents and skills are innate, which is difficult for most people to possess, so most people can only focus on the subtleties.

But are the subtleties so easy to spot?

"Building bridges, and the details..."

Lin Xiao also fell into thinking, and he began to review all the knowledge he had mastered.

Of course he knew that a bridge was needed. If he wanted to communicate with the circle method and the sieve method, he had to build a bridge between them.

They are like the Suez Canal between Asia and Africa. Although compared with the extremely wide areas of the two continents, the Suez Canal's maximum width of only more than 300 meters seems extremely small. Even a 400-meter-long cargo ship can It was blocked, but it was such a small distance that the two continents could only face each other across the river.

Once the bridge is erected, the continents of Asia, Europe, and Africa can truly be connected together and become the largest continent on earth.

The same is true for the circle method, and the sieve method.

However, if you want to build a bridge, you need to pay attention to details and find the best place to build a bridge. Otherwise, the bridge will not be built.

"What details are there that I didn't notice...?"

In other words, what angles has he not tried?

And suddenly, Lin Xiao's eyes suddenly lit up: "Restore the plane!"

"That's right! It's the complex plane!"

The complex plane generally refers to the complex plane.

What is plural?

That is, something with 'i', the imaginary unit defined by mathematicians, that is, the root sign of -1, and the general form is z=a+bi.

Such a purely artificial definition has played an unimaginable role in subsequent mathematical research, including the Riemann zeta function in the Riemann Hypothesis, which is determined by determining the number of prime numbers on the complex plane. a function.

This is also a wonderful coincidence in mathematics.

As for Lin Xiao, he suddenly realized that he seemed to be able to find a coincidence that could realize the bridge he wanted to build in the complex plane field.

He immediately lowered his head, took out a notepad and pen from his pocket, and then lowered his head and began to calculate.

No one around him paid attention to his actions, because during this lecture, there were many people holding notepads and taking notes. Maybe the speaker would mention something interesting and they would write it down.

However, what Lin Xiao wrote at this time was already different from what Professor Laforgue said.

"Construct a unit circle on the complex plane, assuming that prime numbers are points on these complex planes...here...can be processed with the prime number counting function."

"..."

Gradually, Lin Xiao entered his own state and forgot about the people and things around him.

Time, obviously, did not wait for Lin Xiao, but gradually disappeared with every action made by everyone.

Each lecture in the Bourbaki seminar lasted a total of one and a half hours, and when Lin Xiao realized a small point that he had overlooked, more than half an hour had passed.

So, this lecture came to the last twenty minutes.

Professor Laurent Laforgue finished what he wanted to say, and it was time to answer questions.

One hand was raised, many people asked something they wanted to know, and Laurent Laforgue also answered in turn.

And so it was, until there were five minutes left, and Laurent Laforgue smiled and said: "Does anyone have any questions?"

After waiting for a while, someone who looked like a student raised his hand.

"Please say."

The student smiled and said: "I want to know what kind of research experience Mr. Lin went through before he completed the theory of Lin's group transformation method."

Obviously, this question is no longer an academic question. Of course, this student probably asked this question because no one asked other questions.

Professor Laurent Laforgue also smiled and said: "Of course I can't answer this. This should probably be answered by our Mr. Lin. It just so happens that I just said that I wanted to communicate with Mr. Lin."

Then he looked in Lin Xiao's direction again, and said with a smile: "I wonder if Mr. Lin is interested in giving an explanation?"

Everyone present smiled and turned to look at Lin Xiao.

But after a while, what confused others was that Lin Xiao did not stand up to answer.

But those who were relatively close to Lin Xiao saw what Lin Xiao was doing.

He was writing various formulas on his notepad and seemed to have completely forgotten his surroundings.

"What did he write?"

Some people couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

"Who knows? Maybe there is a new theory that is comparable to Lin's group transformation method?" Others shook their heads, expressing their ignorance.

"It looks so complicated."

"But why can he be so serious? Has he completely forgotten his surroundings?"

"I don't know, I can only feel like this when playing Call of Duty."

"It's incredible..."

When Professor Laurent Laforgue on the stage saw this situation, he had no choice but to show his hands to the questioner and said: "It seems that our Mr. Lin is struggling on the road of mathematics and has no way to answer for the time being. your problem."

He looked at Lin Xiao who lowered his head and thought seriously, and added: "Or, Lin, is answering your question? He is personally demonstrating how he studies mathematics."

When everyone heard Laurent Laforgue say this, they immediately understood what he meant.

The questioner wanted to ask what kind of research Lin Xiao went through to successfully come up with Lin's group transformation method.

And now Lin Xiao's 'selfless' research just answered his question exactly?

People couldn't help but feel great admiration and emotion for Lin Xiao. Being able to fall into this kind of immersive thinking despite the influence of other voices next to him was probably the only ability he had, and then coupled with that incomparable Only talent can achieve Lin Xiao's current achievements, right?

Even the French female students who were rejected by Lin Xiao last night couldn't help but admire Lin Xiao at this time.

They watched Lin Xiao thinking about the problem in everyone's eyes. The frown and relaxed brows from time to time reminded people of a saying that men in science and engineering are the most attractive when they are thinking about problems.