Throne of Magical Arcana

In Atom Institution…

Heidi, Annick, and the other students were all waiting for the latest issue of “Arcana” and “Magic”. The series of papers on the quantum field theory published in January was a major enlightenment for the arcanists who had a deep understanding of the microscopic domain. They sensed the next breakthrough in the aspect, so they picked up the knowledge on the quantum field theory with their own work and Lucien’s guidance. They had each completed a relevant paper and began the discussion with the grand arcanists and the senior-rank sorcerers.

Among them, Annick and Sprint were the founders of the quantum field theory. The application of second quantization to the electron system came exactly from the paper that they wrote together. Therefore, it was not too difficult for them to understand and grasp the new concept. Very soon, they kept up the pace with Lucien, Brook, Fernando, and the other grand arcanists, getting so dizzy because of “infinity” that they almost wanted to die with it.

“The quantum field theory is excellent in low-level approximation, but when it comes to the high-level approximation…” Katrina remarked with mixed feelings, without saying the word “infinity” out aloud. Otherwise, Sprint would’ve gone mad before Annick said anything.

Heidi, on the other hand, was barely haunted by worries. She grimaced and said, “In any case, it’s a realm where we can find out the nature of the electromagnetic force and the secrets of electrons!”

She paused for a moment. “Well, not exactly. At the very least, there’s no hope for an explanation of the quantum superposition state or the observer effect based on the quantum field theory.”

“Besides, the different processes in which the charged particles generate the electromagnetic force by exchanging photons have given me inspirations. We seem to have grasped the ‘occasions’ where positrons might show up. We need to devise some collision experiments,” Chelly added for Heidi.

In many cases, the discovery of particles was not as simple as finding the appropriate rays and observing their traces. It was necessary to collide different particles in different locations with different energy with the “rays” in order to result in different reactions, either diffusion or others. Only then would it be possible to locate the unusual track from the complicated reactions.

Grouping in experiments without theoretical guidance would be like a headless fly. One could only expect to achieve something after a long time of searching. That was why the legendary sorcerers and the archmages hadn’t found anything of value from the cosmic rays.

Heidi chuckled gloatingly. “Therefore, this will be the main content of our experiments in the cosmic observatory. Considering our teacher’s attention on the positron, you can never defeat us!”

Sprint snorted. “I’m devoted to the quantum field theory right now after all. There’s still plenty of knowledge for me to study and learn. I don’t plan to go to the cosmic observatory any time soon.”

“As a matter of fact, I think Ms. Hathaway’s paper is also very enlightening and beautiful. When protons and neutrons are considered as the same fundamental particle, I have truly felt the simplistic beauty in the essence of things.” Layria’s daily research was to decide the qualities of different materials under different temperatures and to synthesize new materials with those qualities. Then, she had to experiment repetitively to figure out the cause of superconductivity. It was boring and complicated. Therefore, she appreciated the opinion that the essence of all the complicated matters was simple.

Annick said calmly, “We cannot jump to that conclusion so easily. The research on nuclear decay in the past years seems to suggest that protons and neutrons are not as simple as we imagined. Or rather, the situation inside the atomic nucleus is not as simple as we thought. When it decays, it will release electrons and ‘neutrinos’ that the Lord of Storm speculated. Mr. Oliver even guessed that neutrons can be transformed into protons. The secrets and implications behind it are still hard to say.”

Layria understood what he meant. She nodded her head and said, “I know, but according to some arcanists, it is barely possible to discover neutrinos.”

Neutrinos were not charged and had little mass. They also barely interacted with any matter. Therefore, they had been called by the arcanists as “invisible particles”, meaning that it was almost impossible to observe them.

“As long as they exist, we will observe them through experiments!” Sprint was quite confident about that. Then, he shook his head. “However, the most important thing right now is that many experiments cannot be conducted without a stable reactor.”

“Yes. Without a large fission reactor, there will be no stable source of particles, and it’s impossible to complete the experiments that are needed in the microscopic domain.” Katrina sighed. “Now, the desperate need for the fission reactor comes not only from the energy domain but also from the deeper research in the microscopic domain. It is what most arcanists desire right now.”

Heidi chuckled in amusement. “Most arcanists don’t desire it at all. They can barely keep up with the developments in the microscopic domain nowadays.”

After she said that, she immediately stood up and bowed with a smile. “Good morning, Master.”

She had found Lucien who reached the door.

Lucien took out a pile of journals from his magic pouch and smiled. “I happened upon the apprentice who was delivering the journals for you, so I brought them over by the way.”

Heidi and the other students were not panicked or surprised by their teacher’s behavior. After all, they knew their teacher’s personality very well. They knew that it was really just by the way and did not carry any deeper meaning.

“Thank you, Master.” Katrina and Heidi took over the journals with brilliant smiles.

Lucien shook the last journal in his hands and said, “The most interesting article on this issue is Granny Hathaway’s new paper.”

“The most interesting?” Sprint and the students were briefly stunned. It was certainly not easy to be remarked by their teacher as interesting. It meant that he appreciated the ideas in the paper and believed that the paper was of great heuristic value!

Heidi went to the table of contents and found the title of Hathaway’s new paper—A Hypothesis on the Strong Interaction Force.

After reading the title, Annick and the other students looked at each other and vaguely guessed something. After all, great progress had just been made on the nature of the electromagnetic force, and a paper on strong interaction immediately showed up. They could not believe that the two of them were not related at all.

As they expected, Hathaway had introduced the “model” established by the quantum field theory into the nuclear force, the strong interaction force. If the nature of the electromagnetic force was a complicated process where charged particles exchanged protons, could the strong interaction force be perceived as the result of the exchange of certain particles among nucleons (neutrons and protons)?

Hathaway’s idea was not hard to understand as long as one had to draw the analogy without being bound by restraints. Therefore, it was not difficult for Annick, Katrina, Heidi, and the other students to accept the premise of the hypothesis and read on.

Although the studies on the strong interaction force were still too shallow, it was enough to support Hathaway to build a general model. Then, according to the data that were measured in the experiment, the particle was a new particle that hadn’t been discovered yet. Its mass when it was still was approximately three hundred times that of the electron.

“If we can discover the particle, the nature of the strong interaction force will be unveiled before us…” Annick said in a low voice, somewhat shocked.

“Is this the prophecy on a new particle?” Katrina had a weird feeling.

Layria frowned and said, “If it is indeed discovered, will it be possible to construct the weak interaction force with such a model with another new particle? Then, how many kinds of particles are out there exactly?”

It seemed that the number of fundamental particles had doubled after only a moment. Although it was still just a hypothesis, Layria and the other students still paid great attention to it. Was it possible that the fundamental particles were not simple in the microscopic domain but a complicated and enormous system?

Sprint, on the other hand, was refreshed. “It will be great if we can discover the particle. It will mean that the strong interaction force has no secrets before us. All we need to do is to explore the details!

“If all the three fundamental forces except for gravity can be attributed to the exchange of particles with a corresponding model, it will mean that there are no secrets in the whole world before our eyes!”

He had always been confident and passionate, and it was certainly not an exception right now. As to how many fundamental particles were out there exactly, he couldn’t care less about it. After all, everything was just a speculation.

“It’s a shame that the studies on the weak interaction force are too few to even support the construction of such a model. Otherwise, I’m going to predict a new particle too,” Heidi said rather regretfully, but then she became happy. “It’s possible that those particles are hidden in the cosmic rays!”

Sprint was stunned. Then, he declared rather abruptly, “I’m going to apply to use the cosmic observatory too!”

Seeing that his students were full of passion for research, Lucien nodded his head in satisfaction and walked to his office. Then, his monocle suddenly became hot.

“Lucien, do you have a minute?” Douglas’ gentle and calm voice came into his ears.

Lucien smiled. “Always, Mr. President. What’s the matter?”

“My transmission circle for space jump has been set up. Do you want to chase after the sun with me?” Douglas chuckled.

Lucien was silent for a moment. He then replied, “That’s exactly what I hope.”