284: Chapter 284 Professor Xue's Invitation

The call was from Professor Xue Qikun.

Xue Qikun was a top scholar in the field of Condensed Matter Physics in China. He served as a researcher at the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and was also a professor in the Physics Department at Tsinghua University. His research in the areas of topological insulators and superconducting materials enjoyed a high reputation throughout the international Physics community.

Zhao Yang had met him at a dinner party, but they were only nodding acquaintances and not very familiar; they had simply exchanged phone numbers.

This call is...

Zhao Yang picked up the phone thoughtfully.

"Hello, Professor Xue."

Zhao Yang spoke with a smile.

"Professor Zhao! I took the liberty of calling you, please don't mind!"

Xue Qikun's tone was very polite.

"Hahaha! It's nothing, you're flattering me too much. You can just call me Xiao Zhao. You are a senior in the industry; calling me is a sign of care for a junior!"

Zhao Yang's tone was very humble. Despite how arrogant and immodest Zhao Yang appeared in the media, he truly respected these truly capable seniors in the Dragon Kingdom.

This included, but was not limited to, seniors like Elder Yuan and Elder Qian, as well as many other veterans who had made significant contributions to the development of the Dragon Kingdom. Zhao Yang held these people in high esteem.

"Professor Zhao, you're too kind! The main reason I'm looking for you today is that I've repeatedly read that paper on the microscopic phase transition model of superconductivity published in PRL. I have some questions I'd like to ask in person. I wonder if you have the time?"

"If it were someone else asking, I might not have time, but since you're the one asking, I definitely have time!"

Zhao Yang agreed readily, and the two arranged to meet the next afternoon at a teahouse near Peking University.

The next afternoon, Zhao Yang arrived at the teahouse ten minutes early. Xue Qikun arrived even earlier; he was already sitting by the window with a pot of freshly brewed Tieguanyin in front of him. Seeing Zhao Yang enter, he stood up and greeted him.

Xue Qikun was in his fifties, wearing reading glasses and having graying hair, but he was in good spirits. Several printed pages of the paper were spread out on the table in front of him—it was a copy of Zhao Yang's PRL cover article. The pages were densely covered with notes in both red and blue ink, showing it had been read repeatedly.

The two didn't spend much time on pleasantries; after a few words, they cut straight to the chase.

Xue Qikun turned to the third page of the paper, pointed to a derivation process regarding the introduction of topological terms, and asked a very specific question. He said he had recalculated this section three times on scratch paper, but the choice of integration path in one of the steps left him somewhat confused and he wanted to hear Zhao Yang's original derivation logic.

Zhao Yang picked up a pen and rewrote the core logic of that step on a blank piece of paper. He didn't skip any intermediate steps and derived it from the beginning.

Xue Qikun stared at the paper for a long time, then let out a long breath.

"So that's how it is. You used the residue theorem on the complex plane here to avoid the contribution of the singularity. This processing method has almost never been used by domestic research groups working on topological superconductivity. No wonder you could push the theoretical model to this point."

Hearing Professor Xue's words, Zhao Yang smiled and said,

"I was first inspired by this idea while researching the twin prime conjecture; it's a bit of a cross-disciplinary collision."

Xue Qikun laughed at this.

"Then your cross-disciplinary leap is indeed somewhat unreasonable."

After speaking, Xue Qikun flipped to the latter half of the paper. He pointed to several numerical estimates for the critical temperature of copper-based superconducting materials and asked a sharper question.

"Your model predicts that under specific pressure conditions, the critical temperature of copper-based superconductors can reach above 160K. This figure is significantly higher than the highest value currently recorded in experiments. How feasible do you think it is to achieve this temperature under current experimental conditions?"

Having finished, Professor Xue Qikun looked at Zhao Yang seriously.

"The values given by the theoretical model are based on ideal states."

Zhao Yang pondered for a moment and answered while looking at Professor Xue Qikun.

"But factors in actual experiments such as impurities, lattice defects, and measurement errors will all make the measured values lower than the theoretical ones. The model can only provide an upper limit; approaching this limit requires continuous optimization of experimental conditions."

Xue Qikun nodded. He picked up his teacup and took a sip.

"Zhao Yang, I didn't just come to see you today to ask about a few technical details in the paper."

Xue Qikun put down his teacup, his expression turning somewhat serious.

"One of the main research directions of the group I currently lead at the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is high-temperature superconducting materials. Your model is very likely to provide very important theoretical guidance for experimental directions. I came today primarily to formally invite you to join my research group and conduct further experimental research on superconducting materials with me."

Xue Qikun spoke very directly, without beating around the bush.

"Your mathematical foundation and theoretical intuition are very scarce in the current domestic field of Condensed Matter Physics. If you are willing to join, we can cooperate to verify this model. If it can eventually be experimentally verified, the value of this achievement will be far more than just a PRL paper."

After listening, Zhao Yang didn't answer immediately.

He thought for a bit; he already had many projects on his hands. The Biology project at Yanjing Forestry University was still ongoing, the P vs NP problem hadn't been completely abandoned, and his private laboratory would be delivered in two months, which would definitely require a lot of energy to set up.

"Professor Xue, I currently have projects at both Peking University and Yanjing Forestry University. It's indeed difficult for me to independently take on a new experimental direction in terms of time."

Zhao Yang thought for a moment and spoke while looking sincerely at Professor Xue Qikun.

"But I can participate as a consultant, mainly helping you with theoretical models and data analysis. As for specific experimental operations, I might not be able to commit fully."

Although Zhao Yang was also interested in room-temperature superconducting materials, his current focus still had to be on the discipline of Biology.

After all, upgrading Biology only required over a hundred thousand experience points, while upgrading Physics required a full five hundred thousand!

Although solving room-temperature superconductivity would probably yield more than five hundred thousand subject experience points in Physics...

But solving room-temperature superconductivity? Zhao Yang felt it was likely impossible in the short term, so he didn't want to put too much energy into it.

After hearing Zhao Yang's words, Xue Qikun waved his hand generously.

"That's no problem. As long as you can help with theoretical support, our research group has plenty of people who can do the experimental work."

The two talked a bit more about the future cooperation. Xue Qikun proposed having his Doctoral Student organize a copy of the current experimental data to send to Zhao Yang next week, to let him help see if there was any overlooked information in the data. Zhao Yang agreed.

The tea in the teahouse was refilled twice. It wasn't until the sky outside turned dark that Xue Qikun stood up to leave. When he left, he carefully tucked the annotated pages of the paper into his briefcase and shook hands with Zhao Yang.

"Then it's settled. I'll send the data to your email next week."