"Burstein, Michael A - Broken Symmetry" - читать интересную книгу автора (Burstein Michael A)I'm not sure how."
Roy bit his lower lip and nodded. "It was worth asking. Too bad we can't use your theory to our advantage." The two men sat in silence for a moment, and then Harold's eyes glinted. "Actually, we can!" "How?" "Look," Harold said, "What's the most expensive part of the SSC?" "The ring, of course," Roy replied. Harold nodded, excitement in his eyes. "Yes, the ring. The detectors and even the computers are cheap compared to that. But don't you see? We don't have to worry about funding the ring anymore!" "You mean to say --" Roy began. "I mean to say that someone else in another universe is paying to run the beams. We can just set up detectors and piggyback on their experiments, like when we do experiments on synchrotron radiation. We just have to wait for a crossover, and I believe I can calculate when those will occur. And when a beam comes through -- zing! -- and collides with the protons in the surrounding dirt, we take data." Roy pressed his fingers together and leaned back in his chair. "We could restart the SSC at a fraction of the original cost," he said, "because the scientists in the other universe have already built it." "My point exactly." Roy picked up the phone to call the Department of Energy. # 5. Spin Up The Reichen run, as Kristin called it, was six weeks in the past. It was also the only run of the collider that had actually gone perfectly, ever since Reichen threatened to shut them down. Perhaps, Kristin had told Ray jokingly, there had been something to the idea of ordering the collider to behave itself. Since then, they had run the accelerator many more times, and as always, the beams kept disappearing. Kristin and Ray stood on the hot grassy plain, studying the detector that should have picked up the beam they had run earlier today. After half an hour of examining the huge boxes filled with plastic scintillator, she turned to Ray and said, "Now do you believe my theory?" Slowly, Ray said, "It does seem to be the only possible answer." "Only answer, you mean. Ray, you've checked my calculations. You know that I've predicted every single beam disappearance since the Reichen run. Either I'm the victim of the most improbable set of coincidences, or --" She shrugged. "Or I'm right. And I must be. The data proves it." Ray nodded. "I guess you're right. Too bad." "Too bad?" Kristin felt stunned. "What do you mean, too bad? We've just demonstrated something that will shake the theoretical foundations of physics as much as relativity did!" Ray smiled, bitterly. "Come on, let's walk back to the car." In the car driving back to Waxahachie, he continued. "Kristin, I didn't mean to belittle your accomplishment. Your theory will make a major impact, and you should be proud of that. But your theory also means that we're going to have |
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