224: Chapter 224: It's light that's propelling the universe's accelerated expansion!!!

Listening to Jiang Zhe's arguments, Academician Chen's face was filled with surprise, his eyes flickering intensely with shock and a sense of daze.

Just now, after Jiang Zhe explained the reason for the silence and the first pioneer, an inexplicable sense of familiarity welled up in his heart.

Recently, the global theoretical physics community has been stirred by a mysterious code name, 'J'.

The papers published by J's team featured extremely bold viewpoints and even sharper logic, overturning far too much of what humanity thought it knew!

The sun's core temperature might be as low as 36 degrees, parallel worlds exist inside black holes, gravity might not exist and is essentially the Time Stream...

Those three papers had an immense influence, and the ones involved were Professor Ouyang Baili and Professor Guan Jingming from the top-tier domestic Huaqing University, as well as that famous PhD in computer science, Li Mo.

The phrasing and tone in those three papers—how similar were they to the person standing before him?

Could it be?

Academician Chen took a deep breath, his expression transforming from confusion to passion and excitement. The way he looked at Jiang Zhe had already changed!

Inside the livestream room, after a brief silence, it quickly erupted into a frenzy!

"Holy crap, the first scale?"

"Hearing this gives me goosebumps."

"But didn't he keep talking about Planet J before, saying there might be aliens everywhere in the universe? Why did he suddenly say we are the first batch?"

"Exactly. I feel it's contradictory, but on second thought, maybe it isn't. Him saying we are the first batch of intelligent civilizations doesn't mean the universe doesn't have other forms of existence."

"The point is, his inference about being the first batch is calculated based on the probability of life's birth. I checked it; the time scales and evolutionary paths he mentioned are all part of the consensus in modern biology and astronomy."

"Damn, so this is even scarier, okay? He didn't just talk casually like when he was tutoring Xiaoyu; he used the hardest scientific evidence to deduce a result that makes one's skin crawl—we really might be the lonely first ones."

"+1 +1. Universe pioneers sounds cool, but it inexplicably makes me feel surrounded by loneliness!"

Xiaoyu took a sharp breath. It turned out that when her brother was serious, especially when using real data, he was far more terrifying than the previous Formula J and Planet J!!!

The evidence given by the universe was: [You humans are the first batch of civilizations!!!]

And the universe in her brother's words was a universe with warmth!

She didn't like that indifferent, cold universe; she only liked the warm universe her brother spoke of!

Opposite him, Academician Chen took a deep breath. As he looked at Jiang Zhe, the slight contempt and suspicion in his eyes had vanished.

"A very... brilliant discourse!"

"Then, next is today's final question."

"If your answer can satisfy me, I can personally guarantee your postdoctoral qualification; it will be set in stone."

At this point, he nodded slightly, regaining the severity of a scholar. "Are you ready?"

Jiang Zhe nodded, looking perfectly calm.

In his past life, these academicians came to seek advice—to consult with the members of the think tank within the Hidden Dragon Base—rather than acting as examiners as they were now.

Academician Chen asked, "Second question: Can Anti-gravity be achieved?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Old Yu the Physicist almost spat out the sugar-free drink he was sipping in the office.

"Good grief!" He looked at Academician Chen's question on the large screen. "Academician Chen is treating little Jiang like a universal answering machine, isn't he? The previous professors and academicians asked about future strategic directions and cosmic philosophy, and he just directly asks about Anti-gravity. This jump is a bit too large!"

Principal Fu asked curiously, "What's wrong, Old Yu? Is this question particularly difficult? Although I'm also from a science background, I feel like Anti-gravity is quite common."

"Common... that's in sci-fi movies!" Old Yu said with a look of speechlessness. "It's not just hard; it's hard to the point of being a philosophical paradox. It's equivalent to me asking you directly, Old Fu, can you grab your own hair and lift yourself off the ground?"

Principal Fu looked stunned. "That... definitely not!"

"Well, there you go!"

In the livestream room, the bullet chat also flew by rapidly.

"Anti-gravity? Whoa, is the academician starting to test him on sci-fi?"

"The style of this question changed so suddenly, jumping from cosmic philosophy to engineering practice?"

"I feel like he's asking: Can you hand-craft a flying saucer for me to see? If you can, I'll give you the postdoc degree..."

"..."

Inside the villa's living room.

Jiang Zhe sat on the sofa, feeling somewhat puzzled.

Starting with Professor Sun, the questions in today's assessment began to be unusual.

Shouldn't they be asking some existing problems? Why have they all started asking me about ultra-cutting-edge, intractable problems?

Anti-gravity?

Is a concept like this—which touches the core of physics and is even questioned as to whether it exists within the mainstream physics framework—really something that should be asked in a postdoctoral assessment?

Do postdocs even have the qualifications to touch these top-level researches?

Or has something happened that requires them to seek inspiration from a candidate like me?

Behind him, Xiaoyu was so scared she covered her mouth. "Brother noticed. He's noticed something is off."

Fortunately, she hurriedly stood up and downplayed it. "Brother, that's just how it is. Maybe Academician Chen is testing the breadth of your thinking. After all, the gap between a postdoc and an academician isn't actually that large!"

Hearing this, Jiang Zhe nodded gently and didn't worry too much.

Composing himself, he looked calmly at the academician opposite him. "Anti-gravity."

"To discuss whether it is achievable, we must first understand what gravity is."

"According to the Theory of Relativity, gravity is not a force, but the geometric curvature of spacetime caused by mass."

"It's like a glass marble placed on a stretched net; the surface of the net under the marble will sink down."

"We can conclude that objects with mass—like the sun or the Earth—have spacetime around them in this state of contraction or indentation."

Academician Chen nodded; this was basic high school content.

"Then, the so-called Anti-gravity should logically correspond to the expansion or bulging of the spacetime structure."

"If the spacetime of a region is not bent by a massive celestial body but instead bulges up, then objects within it will exhibit phenomena opposite to the gravity we are familiar with—they won't be attracted, but pushed away."

As he got to this point, his expression hardened, and he changed the subject. "Interestingly, if we look at our entire universe from a macroscopic scale, it is currently in a state of accelerated expansion. Moreover, the speed of this expansion, at the edge of the universe, has already exceeded three times the speed of light."

He held up a finger and asked with a serious face, "What does this indicate?"

"It indicates that in the universe, the spacetime we are in is itself a giant thing floating in Anti-gravity somewhere—there is something that is continuously and increasingly propping open the internal structure of the universe."

"But!"

"This is where things get weird."

"If we observe from the microscopic scale around us—within the Solar System, or even around the Earth, or even the ground beneath our feet—spacetime is undoubtedly contracting. They manifest as the gravity we humans are familiar with."

"Macroscopic [expansion] and microscopic [contraction] are very contradictory within the current physics framework."

Academician Chen nodded. "This contradiction is well-known. So, what is your view—is Anti-gravity actually possible to achieve?"

Jiang Zhe shook his head gently. "Academician Chen, you should carefully savor the few sentences I just said—[The universe is undergoing accelerated expansion, and the speed exceeds the speed of light, proving that our macroscopic cosmic spacetime is anti-gravitational]."

"Then, a more critical question is—"

"Exactly what is it inside the universe that is continuously pushing the universe itself to accelerate its expansion, even beyond the speed of light?"

After pausing for two and a half seconds, he gave a small hint:

"One reminder: from our theoretical models, if Anti-gravity truly exists, its mechanism of action allows its apparent effects to exceed the speed of light limit—this is a problem on a different level from the movement of massive objects not being able to exceed the speed of light."

As soon as these words were out, all the viewers, teachers, and professors fell into deep thought.

What is it that is continuously pushing the universe's accelerated expansion, even exceeding the speed of light?

Hundreds of thousands of viewers in the livestream room began to speculate one after another.

"Dark Energy, right?"

"It's definitely Dark Energy!"

"Isn't Dark Energy the mainstream hypothesis explaining the universe's accelerated expansion?"

"..."

On the other side of the video, Academician Chen pondered for a moment and also offered the term, "Dark Energy?"

Jiang Zhe shook his head gently. "Dark Energy? That's not nearly enough!"

"The density and nature of the hypothesized Dark Energy within the current physics framework are not enough to support the observed violent accelerated expansion, especially in the boundary regions of superluminal expansion."

"You should think more carefully—behind the phrase [The universe is an Anti-gravity spacetime], the [thing] pushing it must be something inherent to the universe itself, and..."

At this point, he nodded slightly and said word by word, "It is everywhere, and in everything."

"Everywhere, and in everything?"

When these words fell, it was like a bolt of lightning, clearing the mist in the minds of many viewers.

At this moment, in Ouyang Baili's dormitory at Huaqing University.

Professor Wu rested his chin on his hand, his brow furrowed. "What is everywhere? Dark Matter? No, Dark Matter generates gravity... Neutrinos? Or Background Radiation?"

Ouyang Baili was deep in thought. "Could it be the Time Stream? It doesn't seem like it; he doesn't seem to be using the Time Stream hypothesis he proposed in the past. He is entirely basing this on the real evidence mentioned in our modern physics!"

After a long time, having spent dozens of seconds thinking, shaking his head, thinking again, and then continuing to shake his head, Academician Chen finally spoke with a look of defeat.

"I can't explain it. If I could explain it, the Nobel Prize would be mine."

"Even for me, based on the currently public theoretical framework, I cannot deduce exactly what that thing is which is everywhere, in everything, and can generate such great thrust."

Just as everyone was doing their best to guess what this thing was, Jiang Zhe didn't waste any time and gave the answer directly.

"It's Microwaves."

"Huh?" Academician Chen was stunned. "It's what?"

Jiang Zhe said with absolute certainty, "To be more precise, it is the Electromagnetic Radiation that is everywhere in the universe. That is to say, it is light."

"It is light that is pushing the universe's accelerated expansion. It is light that makes the universe manifest as an Anti-gravity spacetime. It is light itself, or rather, it is an effect of the macroscopic accumulation of Light Pressure coupled with spacetime."

"In plain terms: It is light rays that are pushing the universe's accelerated expansion."

His words were like a clap of thunder!

Boom!

Academician Chen reflexively stood up from his chair on the spot, even causing the computer screen to shake. "This is impossible!!!"