Chapter 903 [The first detection of gravitational waves]

Gravitational waves are not rare in the universe, but they are extremely difficult to detect. After Fang Hong's previous LIGO detected gravitational waves for the first time, new gravitational wave signals were detected on average every week in the following days.

"Quick, quick, hurry up and inform Director Ning, we are very likely to detect gravitational wave signals." A young man on duty at the headquarters shouted with great excitement. At this time, there were not many staff in the research center, only A few people were on duty as usual, and everyone else had gone to bed.

As soon as he saw the signal coming and both devices detected it, he immediately called Chief Engineer Ning Xingqing.

At this time, Ning Xingqing was serving as the executive director of the "Sky Mirror" project, and could be said to be the overall person in charge of this project.

He was woken up by a phone call in the middle of the night. After learning what happened at the research center, he got up without stopping and rushed to the research center. He was actually extremely excited.

…

On the morning of January 3, today is also the first day of operation for "Sky Realm".

At this moment, Fang Hong was opening a video connection in his study room on the second floor. The other end of the signal was connected to the "Sky Mirror" project research center, and Ning Xingqing was in the video screen.

"Mr. Fang, at 2:19 in Lingcheng on January 2, when the equipment was in the trial operation stage, we detected a signal for the first time, which was initially determined to be a gravitational wave signal." Ning Xingqing in the training screen said excitedly Said, he suppressed the excitement in his heart, because he knew very well that a great honor that could be recorded in the history of science was just around the corner.

"Oh? Really?" Fang Hong pretended to be surprised when he heard this. He could understand Ning Xingqing's excitement at the moment, but for Fang Hong, this is how it should be. He has been familiar with gravity for two generations. It is not surprising that the "Sky Mirror" will definitely detect new gravitational wave signals every few days.

The universe is too vast and vast, and even events with small probabilities will appear sparse and ordinary when placed in front of such a huge base.

However, Ning Xingqing's feelings are completely different from Fang Hong's. After all, he does not know the identity of Fang Hong's time-travelling rebirth, and the success of the "Sky Mirror" project is inseparable from the young man in front of him. Full support, Ning Xingqing has not even slept a wink yet, and now he comes to give Fang Hong the good news. You have spent tens of billions, and the results are here. You have fulfilled your mission.

I saw Ning Xingqing talking non-stop: "After detecting this signal, the research center immediately carried out research and analysis on the signal overnight. The preliminary conclusion is that this gravitational wave signal should come from 1.3 billion light-years away." Two black holes merge outside."

Ning Xingqing was worried that Fang Hong, a layman, wouldn't understand, so he tried to explain it as easily as possible: "In other words, about 1.3 billion years ago, there were two black holes, one with a mass of about 29 times the mass of the sun, and one with a mass of about 29 times the mass of the sun. About 36 times the mass of the sun, the two black holes gradually approached and rotated around each other at high speed, and finally merged into a large black hole with a mass of 62 times the mass of the sun, while the remaining 3 times the mass of the sun spread in the form of gravitational waves."

You can imagine how much energy this has. Three suns turned into energy in an instant.

After a while, Fang Hongyan said concisely and comprehensively: "Is the conclusion reliable?"

Ning Xingqing on the other side immediately replied: "We can only say that the reliability is not less than 80%. Due to a rigorous attitude towards science, it is too early to draw an absolute conclusion. On the one hand, I am contacting you this time to inform you of this good news. To bring it to you, on the other hand, in order to solve the last 20% of uncertainty, we need to arrange more powerful data analysis."

Fang Hong leaned back in his seat and smiled: "It's okay to speak up if you have anything to say, as long as I can help you I won't refuse."

Ning Xingqing became energetic and immediately said: "Quantitative Capital owns the largest and most advanced supercomputing center in Xincheng and even in the country. Our team wants to borrow this supercomputing center for a period of time to assist in data analysis. This may happen this month. There will be results, otherwise it might take less than half a year."

Hearing this, Fang Hong nodded to himself and said: "Well, this way we can draw the final conclusion as soon as possible. Okay, I will call Chen Yu directly to say hello later, and your people can just go there with the data."

Ning Xingqing was overjoyed.

Fang Hong said with a smile: "My intuition tells me that this is gravitational waves, and your team has detected the gravitational wave signal for the first time on behalf of mankind. If you spend tens of billions, the money will not be wasted."

Ning Xingqing couldn't help but raise his hand: "With your support, domestic basic scientific research is really lucky. The basic scientific research environment in recent years has been something that those of us engaged in basic research could not even imagine before."

This was both flattery from Ning Xingqing and speech from the bottom of his heart.

Since the establishment of the Natural Science Foundation, the domestic basic scientific research environment has undergone tremendous changes that are visible to the naked eye. The salary of scientific and technological workers has doubled, and the benefits it has brought are also visible to the naked eye. The most obvious one is that there are more new generations. , the number of young people entering the field of basic scientific research has obviously increased in the past two years.

Because of the substantial increase in salary, I don’t have to worry about the dilemma of not being able to afford a house while immersing myself in research.

Funding for basic scientific research projects has never been as abundant as it has been in recent years. Projects such as the "Sky Mirror" and "Sky Survey Space Telescope" that can cost tens of billions or even hundreds of billions were unthinkable before. , but now the project is being established at the same time.

With these projects, jobs have been provided for a large number of scientific and technological workers who have poured into basic scientific research.

Otherwise, just improving job benefits will attract more people to enter this industry, but it will not work if there are no corresponding jobs.

It can be said that Fang Hong is supporting the development of science in all aspects, which has also allowed him to gain reputation and support from researchers in the field of basic scientific research. To a certain extent, he has once again won the support of a group. , and they are a group with high IQ.

In fact, before this, scholars who really did research in the academic world viewed Fang Hong as a "capitalist", and these three words were generally derogatory. However, now this group of people have a substantially changed evaluation of Fang Hong. He has become a national entrepreneur and is full of praise for him in private.

But at this moment, Fang Hong was holding the armrest of the chair with one hand and resting the other on the table. He looked at Ning Xingqing on the video screen and said with a smile: "Although due to scientific and rigorous considerations, your team cannot come out to the public until it is 100% sure. Announcement. But as an outsider, I will first say it on Weibo. Director Ning, don’t you object?"

Ning Xingqing laughed and said, "No objection, no objection, you can say whatever you want."

Fang Hong's smile remained the same: "I just want to see the American side. From the last century to today, the Gipsy Thorne gang has spent so much money on the LIGO project for decades, but we ended up losing it." How would they feel if they achieved this result half way through?"

Fang Hong added: "I would also like to see what the reaction of the Nobel Prize-winning institution is? Will it award you the physics prize? Will it be treated differently or equally? You must work harder and complete the final work as soon as possible." The results of the demonstration and published, the undertaking you are doing this time is not only a contribution to science, but also a test for the Nobel Prize organization."

…