Chapter 010

The Lady Tasting Tea ③ (Unabara Sorano)

Update Time: 2011-OCT-26 19:11:06

"No, that's not right. This part is not like that. Considering the uncertainty relation between time and energy, which is caused by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, when time is short enough, energy will fluctuate. You already know this. As for the calculation of a photon turning into a virtual electron-positron pair in a very short time, you have already mastered it well. However, you have some bad habits when calculating the probability amplitude of this virtual interaction process. Look at this Feynman diagram, you can integrate it this way. Following Feynman's rules, you can easily obtain the expression of the corresponding matrix."

"Ah, sorry, my mistake."

"You also need to get used to the necessary skills of using Feynman diagrams. Each line of the Feynman diagram corresponds to the distribution function of virtual particles, and each vertex gives a factor that can be obtained from the interaction term's Lagrangian. Even energy, momentum, and spin can be seen clearly by this way, which is a very intuitive and useful technique."

This is a conversation that is completely incomprehensible to outsiders.

The two people in the conversation are not even in the same room, let alone in the same school district. This is not surprising. In today's highly developed communication technology, the teaching method has long surpassed the constraints of geographical location.

The surprising thing is the identities of the two people and the content of the teaching.

The guider is a middle-aged person with some age, which is nothing special. The content of the teaching is quantum electrodynamics (QED). Although this part is a bit profound, there is still nothing too surprising.

The really surprising thing is the identity of the listener.

She is a very cute girl who has not even gone to middle school yet.

Her name is Unabara Sorano, an applicant who is about to take the entrance exam for Tokiwadai. Now, there are still two months before the start of the new school year in Academy City.

"Well, I know. I just don't like renormalization sometimes."

"To be honest, I don't like this kind of math that seems somewhat self-deceiving, even more than you do. The more I think about the meaning of these damn mathematical skills of addition and subtraction in physics, the more I feel disgusted. However, the accuracy after renormalization is jaw-dropping, and we cannot avoid its existence. We don't know why, but before further completing the physical unification, existing physics tells us that nature is this strange thing. We do not know why, but before further completing the unification of physics, existing physics tells us that nature is this strange thing. Maybe string theory will give us hope hope, but that is not within the scope of our discussion. And I have to advise you that even in the future, unless there is no other way, don't casually touch string theory. Even your teacher will have a headache when dealing with it..."[1]

"Well, it's done. Is this okay?"

"So fast? Send it to me to take a look."

"Okay."

While talking to the other end, the girl quickly types on the keyboard and sends her completed calculation to the other side through the network.

Looking at the calculation results obtained, the other end of the network falls silent for a moment.

"Unabara, now I understand why Kurkov insisted on reserving an assistant position for you half a year in advance. If we waited until you enroll to arrange it, I'm afraid all the same-period competing classmates would be defeated by you."

After closing the email, the middle-aged man on the other end of the network sighs deeply.

"Huh? My teacher? What's going on?"

Sorano is a little surprised. She didn't receive any news about this before.

"It's nothing. It's just that your teacher asked us to reserve an assistant position for you so that you can help him immediately after enrolling. That's all. He probably didn't tell you because he thought it was unimportant."

"But I'm not a student at Tokiwadai yet."

"That's right. But he is very confident, we can't refuse him, and you know Kurkov's bad temper."

"Uh... I suddenly feel a lot of pressure..."

Sorano leans on the computer desk, cutely pretending to be weak.

"Haha, there shouldn't be a big problem for you."

"But..." Sorano still buries her head on the keyboard, and her beautiful voice sounds a bit dull, "it's still a bit difficult to pass the entrance exam."

This action prevents her from seeing the slightly changed expression on the middle-aged man's face on the monitor.

"And if I accidentally fail, wouldn't it be embarrassing for my teacher? Hearing such a topic, which really adds a lot of pressure, I don't even know if it will affect my state..." Sorano rambles on, not knowing what she's saying, but doesn't hear any response from the other end.

("Entrance exam... damn it, I really have to teach that guy a lesson...")

She seems to hear the middle-aged man murmuring unclearly through her headphones. Sorano looks up, but still rests her small chin on the computer desk. She looks extremely cute.

"What's wrong?"

"No, I'm just thinking about something else," the middle-aged man hesitates for a moment, then continues to ask, "I'm only responsible for quantum electrodynamics, and I don't know much about other subjects. I want to confirm your overall feelings. Is it really 'a bit difficult' for you to pass these courses?"

"Well, these courses are indeed a bit difficult. I really can't be careless at all."

"I see..." for some reason, the middle-aged man suddenly says something that Sorano didn't expect, "Unabara, how about being my assistant after you enroll?"

"Huh... what?"

"Although Kurkov is quite comprehensive, I'm confident that I can beat him in quantum electrodynamics. Besides, we old guys also need you young people to maintain our thinking vitality and creativity."

"Please don't increase my pressure anymore. And you're not even old enough to be called an 'old guy', right?"

"Haha. Although it's a bit early, think about it. I'll wait for your response at Tokiwadai. That's all for today's class. Rest well."

"Really..."

Sorano takes off her headphones and lies down on her bed. Sitting in front of the computer for a long time has made her limbs feel a bit stiff.

The season is already in the depth of winter, and even indoors feels a bit chilly now that it's already dark outside. Sorano takes out the remote control for the air conditioner and raises the indoor temperature slightly.

During this season, one cannot be too careless. Even Sorano's brother, who has always been actively involved in sports, recently caught a cold. If it were her, it would probably be even more troublesome.

"Should I go exercise a bit? It's not worth it if I get fat like this all the time..."

Sorano mutters to herself, although she has never really worried about her figure.

She gets up and changes into clothes suitable for exercise, then walks into the gym.

"Huh?"

There is someone else in the gym.

Perhaps because he didn't pay attention to the sudden drop in temperature and caught a cold while exercising outdoors, Sorano's brother has reduced his outdoor exercise a bit in recent times. Maybe it's because of the bad weather today, but his exercise routine has changed from court sports like tennis to combat training that includes weightlifting and hitting sandbags.

In her past memories, Sorano has some understanding of mixed martial arts. (Men who have nothing better to do often prefer to watch these confrontational sports.) What surprises her, however, is that her brother seems to have received some fairly professional combat guidance — she doesn't remember her family hiring a professional combat coach.

The sandbag used for striking seems to be the type that incorporates optical fibers, which emit light in different areas to indicate the striking position according to microcomputer signals. It is said to be a product of the new fiber optic technology that has been mass-produced cheaply and is being applied in several famous schools such as Tokiwadai. This high-tech mixed in with sports equipment is becoming more and more popular in Academy City.

Sorano sits on the side and watches her brother train, feeling a bit different.

Actually, there was a period of time before when the two siblings had some inexplicable estrangement. Unabara Mitsuki seemed to have something on his mind, which was the first time it had happened between them. She didn't know if she had unintentionally done something excessive. Although it didn't seem to be the case, Sorano still cared a little bit. At that time, Mitsuki even fell ill, and Sorano took care of him for a period of time before he finally recovered.

This made Sorano uneasy for a while, but fortunately the outcome was not bad, and the relationship between the siblings was restored after that period of time.

"Test nine, two seconds apart."

Why does this electronic indicator sound like the popular virtual idol lately? Is something wrong?

Mitsuki doesn't care at all, he focuses on the next light signal while adjusting his breathing.

Under the smooth and continuous kicking and striking of the inertia movement, the scoring system quickly accumulates points. In a short time, not even a single mistake appears.

(That's amazing...)

The final score shows a 100% effective strike rate. This result makes Sorano who is watching on the side couldn't help but applaud.

Mitsuki realizes Sorano is here and scratches his face awkwardly. Sorano hands him a sports drink without any concern.

"Oh, thank you."

"(Stare)..."

Sorano stares at Mitsuki.

"What... did I do something wrong?"

"No, not at all," Sorano quickly denies, not realizing that her cheeks are slightly red, "It's just strange. Onii-san, it seems like you haven't participated in combat training before, and our family doesn't have this kind of coach."

"You can tell?" Mitsuki is surprised. He always thinks his sister doesn't understand this kind of thing. After all, girls usually don't like this kind of sport.

Sorano nods honestly.

"It's not a big deal, just that I met a friend who is good at these things and received some guidance from him. Actually, it's not recent, I've been in contact with him for about a year, but I only started systematic training these few months. It's just that I usually don't do this kind of training at home."

"Wow, isn't that amazing?"

Although Sorano knows her brother is quite amazing, it still exceeds her imagination to this extent.

"Cough cough... Let's talk about your preparation. How is it going?"

"It's okay, although it's still a bit difficult."

Sorano waits for her brother's reply, but there is no response.

More accurately, for a long time, Mitsuki just sits there silently without any reaction. It is only much later that he seems to be muttering something to himself.

("Anyway, it's not the first time, I've already gone through it like this, and with time, I'll get used to it...")

Listening carefully, it's all similar complaints.

In fact, after the period of estrangement in their sibling relationship, Mitsuki would sometimes show this strange behavior. Anyway, Sorano couldn't understand what is going on, but it didn't have any bad effects.

Besides these subtle fluctuations, the two siblings should continue their relationship like this.

At least that's what Sorano believes at the moment.

[1] Footnote by the author: In order to write these few paragraphs, I specially dragged my friend "Pesticide" who has been busy with work to give me a crash course in physics. However, even with his help, this short paragraph is still written with great difficulty. To make matters worse, there is also a foreshadowing in this paragraph, which is really annoying.