"Congratulations, Professor Li," Xu Dajiang said, his tone betraying a hint of envy.
Today was the day Qiao Ze graduated, and it was also the day he officially became a distinguished doctoral student under Li Jian Gao at Xilin University of Technology.
As everything settled and the school compiled and reported the data, Xu Dajiang couldn't help but feel a touch of sourness in his heart.
It just goes to show that some people's luck really defies nature.
Who would have thought that a mathematics conference could unearth a non-traditional math genius like Qiao Ze?
"Shared joy, shared joy," Li Jian Gao replied with a modest smile, courteously dismissing the compliment.
Once he had accepted that he was destined to 'lie down and win' this lifetime, he became impervious to the various emotions his colleagues harbored towards him.
As Zhang Chunlei jokingly said in the group chat, everyone in the circle envied Li Jian Gao, and everyone wanted to be Li Jian Gao.
"By the way, I heard Qiao Ze plans to graduate as quickly as possible? Have you settled on a topic for his thesis?" Xu Dajiang asked as he looked at Qiao Ze, who was taking a photo with Zhu Hongbing not far away.
"Yes, Qiao Ze has decided on it; he plans to do the mathematical proof for the Mass Gap hypothesis. After he writes the paper, he graduates," Li Jian Gao answered.
Having just finished his defense, received his diploma, and completed his doctoral enrollment...
Then came the photo session.
Although Qiao Ze wasn't particularly fond of taking photos, on such a meaningful day, it naturally couldn't be all about what he wanted.
The school even specially ordered a brand-new bachelor's gown for Qiao Ze.
"A mathematical proof for the Mass Gap hypothesis for his thesis?" Xu Dajiang paused, then asked, "Does he already have some leads?"
"Well, almost. I chatted with Qiao Ze yesterday, and he already has a general idea. He said that he has now proven a unique field with standard order energy density in its simplest state, which in this special case allows for more detailed study of M's spectrum... something like that. You know, this is an area I don't understand," Li Jian Gao said openly.
After all, there aren't many mentors in the world who could help Qiao Ze with this topic.
The mathematical tools used to prove this high-end proposition are all his own inventions; anyone else is just a namesake.
Xu Dajiang couldn't help but twitch his mouth and said, "A topic for a doctoral thesis... it won't be easy to find a professor responsible for the defense, as far as I know, there aren't many professors researching this topic in the country... if this really comes through, wouldn't the defense practically be turned into a seminar?"
Li Jian Gao looked at Xu Dajiang and sighed, "Yeah, anyway, the thesis might as well go through the motions with me; I have no clue what to do when the time comes. However, thankfully, Qiao Ze said it would probably take him another two or three months to complete his paper. So that pushes it to around May or June."
"Two or three months to complete it?" Xu Dajiang looked at Li Jian Gao with some surprise.
"Yep, that's what Qiao Ze estimated himself," Li Jian Gao nodded and then hesitated before saying, "His estimates are usually off. In the past, he always left plenty of margins. For instance, when he was working on the Group Wisdom project, he told me it might take half a year, but he produced the complete results in just two months."
Xu Dajiang hesitated before finally speaking up, "Actually, you should tell Qiao Ze, there's no need to hurry so much, to enjoy life a little. We just hosted a high-level conference in January, and if we hold another in June, wouldn't that be too frequent? Let's wait for the school."
Li Jian Gao remained silent; this wasn't a matter for him to worry about.
But he thought to himself how people's thoughts really do change.
This time last year, when he first brought Qiao Ze to the school, he genuinely hoped Qiao Ze would slow down, to thoroughly enjoy college life and have a well-rounded life. Then, Xu Dajiang's intention was for Qiao Ze to focus on his development...
Now he had given up on his previous idea, leaving it to Qiao Ze, and yet, the Dean now wished Qiao Ze would take it slower.
"Ah, but it doesn't matter. If Qiao Ze really pulls it off, it's indeed worth pulling all the stops again. After all, others don't even get the chance. Actually, the last conference nearly broke even for the school, it's just that the city's hidden costs were not included. But if the Mass Gap problem is proven, we might as well hold a big conference. We can charge a bit more, what do you think?" Xu Dajiang said to himself.
"Uh... I'm not sure about these things," Li Jian Gao replied, then he said, "Professor Zhu is calling us over for photos, let's join them."
"Hey, call Qiao Ze's mom over for the group photo too, she's been on the side watching, it's not nice. Take several shots, and I'll hang them in my office later."
United States, California, San Francisco Bay Area, National Center for Mathematical Research, located behind the mountain at the Berkeley Branch.
Despite it being late at night, Robert Stephen was completely absorbed in his work, pen in hand, scribbling on his draft paper.
If Qiao Ze were by his side, he would recognize at a glance that this was a study on his superspiral space algebra.
Yes, although this big shot didn't like Qiao Ze, he was clearly interested in this new direction proposed by Qiao.
The only pity was that this was a topic that was just getting started.
There was far too little reference material available.
Apart from the video of Qiao Ze's conference and his paper on the general solution of the Yang-Mills Equations, there was nothing else.
And this significantly increased the difficulty of the research.