CHAPTER 17

As he walked down the hall, Aki thought about Dietmar’s email. A request to attend the supervisor’s office at 2:00 p.m. carried serious overtones. He didn’t agree with my theorem. I know it. I know the math is sound. What could be the problem?

He arrived promptly at Dietmar’s door. Unlike his and so many others, it was closed in true German fashion. He knocked and waited. From behind it, he heard the scrape of a chair pushed back, steps approaching, and then the handle turning. Dietmar waved him in. “Thanks for coming, Aki.”

Aki waited for the supervisor to sit, then found a chair for himself. “So what did you think?”

Dietmar rubbed at his face, sighed, then turned his monitor so Aki could see the report on the screen. “I studied your theorem in detail. Do you really expect me to accept this, Aki?”

Aki shuffled his chair closer to better overlook the open file on the screen. “There can be no other explanation as to why we can’t actually see the Higgs boson.” He reached over and tapped the screen. “See? By amending the Standard Model, here…and here…and again over here, we achieve the same results.”

Dietmar settled back in his chair and sighed once more. “So you want me to believe that we’ll never actually view the Higgs boson in action.”

He’s not buying it. “’Fraid not. Not unless we can visit a black hole.”

Dietmar chuckled. “That’s not hard. We just visit my wife’s bank account. No matter how much I deposit, it disappears. Now there’s a black hole.”

Dietmar leaned forward again to study the screen. “Still, your hypothesis that the Higgs bosons imparted mass to everything back at the time of the Big Bang and have since gone to form the super-massive black holes at the center of every galaxy lacks balance. There is far too much matter in the universe to be offset by the amount contained in those black holes.”

Aki nodded. “Hence my supposition as to the existence of what constitutes the dark matter roaming the cosmos.”

“Then why haven’t we seen any around here? It’s believed dark matter is everywhere.”

“That’s the one thing that’s puzzled me. My only conjecture would be solar wind.”

Dietmar tapped at his keyboard. “I want to show you something. Remember when you first broached this idea with me? What did I say? I said for your hypothesis to be accepted, it was going to need to pass the test. Prior to inviting you here today, I forwarded this to five other noted physicists here at Cern. Can you guess at their analysis?”

Aki pressed his lips tight. I don’t like where this is going. “No, but I suspect you’re about to tell me.”

Dietmar hit one more key and his email box opened with the top message from one of the other scientists.

Without going into too many details, this analysis is hogwash.

Dietmar went to the next message.

Aki is a bright kid, he shouldn’t be wasting his time on such useless conjectures.

The following three were no better.

“Understand, Aki, I think deep down you might be right. But who am I to argue this? These people have spent a significant portion of their lives trying to find the Higgs boson and you want to dash their careers away with one single swoop. No, without support from the scientific community, there’s no way I can consider your analysis, despite my inner reservations.” Dietmar rose from his seat.

Aki took the clue and rose as well. That’s it then. “Just so you know. I’ve submitted my paper for review elsewhere. Someone somewhere will endorse it. Then what?”

Dietmar clapped him on the shoulder and laughed. “Then? Then I get to go and relax as a professor in my home town of Dusseldorf.”

Aki left and made his way to his own office. Along the way he passed one of the people who had scorned his report. The first temptation was to avoid eye contact and step wide, but he resisted it. Instead, he did his best to hide his feelings and gave a polite hello without stopping to talk. I’ll prove them all wrong.

Slumping into the chair at his desk, he opened his email. He decided to send one to his old supervisor back at NASA.

Hey Bruce,

I hope you’ve had a chance to complete your review of my theorem on the Higgs. Your last email said it looked promising but you needed more time. Everyone here thinks I’m nuts.

Aki

He had spent the next hour reviewing the daily reports when the ping of a new email caught his attention.

Hi Aki,

In fact, I did finish and I concur your analysis is possible. I’m just waiting for one of my colleagues here to agree. Sounds like it’s time for you to come home. I have an opening. Interested?

Bruce

Aki allowed himself a smile. He typed a quick message and hit send.

You bet!