Super God-Level Top Student
Chapter 960 - 365: A Christmas Without Gifts_2

As for Qiao Ze wanting Peter Schultz to be one of the reviewers, that's really not a big deal.

Don't forget that during the submission process, authors already have the right to suggest which mathematicians they'd like as reviewers or those they'd prefer to avoid. Even if Qiao Ze hadn't made this request, Lotte Dugan had already planned to include Peter Schultz as one of the reviewers.

He was well aware that, recently, Peter Schultz had maintained academic interactions with Huaxia—after all, he had been the middleman for those exchanges. So letting Peter Schultz review the paper was far more reliable than anyone else.

After all, this was an unprecedented mathematical domain, and "Mathematics Annual" still had to race against "New Discoveries in Mathematics and Physics." If the other journal published the Chinese version first, it would undoubtedly attract a lot of attention from mathematicians. And by the time someone spontaneously translated it into English, the paper wouldn't be as valuable anymore.

Generally speaking, if it were someone else submitting the same paper to both Chinese and English journals, "Mathematics Annual" would likely return the submission without even looking at it.

But this was Qiao Ze's latest paper on a groundbreaking research area—an exception could be made.

Once again proving that so-called rules are, in fact, flexible. If they aren't flexible, it merely indicates the submitter's influence isn't strong enough.

Thus, Lotte Dugan first wrote back to Edward Witten—a subtle reminder to this newly minted Nobel and Fields Medal laureate of the grievances he'd recently endured, aimed at inducing a bit of guilt in him—before starting to read the paper.

Indeed, Qiao Ze's style was instantly recognizable: the kind that makes you feel you probably won't understand it without specialized study.

After a cursory flip through the paper, Lotte Dugan picked up the phone and called Peter Schultz directly.

As for the time difference...

Lotte Dugan couldn't be bothered with those details.

Sleep happens every day, but high-level mathematics papers? Rare. Especially since Qiao Ze hadn't written an English paper for quite some time.

Even if he truly disturbed someone's slumber, Lotte Dugan still felt Peter Schultz ought to thank him.

Luckily, it seemed he'd not disrupted the other party; the phone was picked up after just two rings.

"Hi, Professor Schultz, this is Lotte Dugan."

"Hello, Professor Dugan, what's the matter?"

"There is indeed something. Here's the situation: Professor Qiao submitted a paper to 'Mathematics Annual' regarding the first principles of mathematical interweaving. I imagine you'd be interested in being a reviewer, right?"

There was a brief silence on the other end before: "Can I refuse?"

"Of course. After all, this work would take up your valuable rest time and is entirely voluntary. But are you sure you want to refuse? Especially since both Professor Qiao and Professor Witten believe you'd be best suited to understand the contributions interweaving brings to mathematics." Lotte Dugan reconfirmed.

This time, the pause lasted longer.

Clearly conflicted over the decision, after a minute, Peter Schultz's slightly weary voice came through: "Alright, you win, Professor Dugan. I'm honored to be the reviewer for this paper."

"That's the correct choice, Peter. Truthfully, if my own research were remotely related to this, I would've eagerly volunteered as a reviewer myself—even if it meant violating standard protocol. Though I don't particularly like Edward Witten, honestly, if my work could contribute even slightly to the Grand Unified Theory, I'd probably make the same choices he did."

Afterward, Lotte Dugan sighed regretfully: "Ah..."

It seemed he regretted not being able to go to Huaxia Xilin to contribute to the Grand Unified Theory.

"Send the paper to my inbox. It happens I'm still in the office," came a prompt voice from the phone, which then hung up immediately.

Though this came across as somewhat impolite, Lotte Dugan still wore a smile on his face.

One can't expect every German to be a gentleman.

And Peter Schultz's hesitation, in truth, signified his genuine interest.

To be honest, Lotte Dugan didn't care much about whether the University of Bonn would lose a talent, certainly not as much as the esteemed director of the Institute for Advanced Study would.

But as a mathematician, he truly hoped the Grand Unified Theory would emerge sooner. Even more eagerly, he anticipated seeing the sparks that might fly when talented minds from East and West collided.

It's like how many mathematicians feel these years—the progress in pure mathematics has been extraordinarily slow. Whether as a mathematician himself or as the editor-in-chief of a world-class math journal, he desperately wanted to see more groundbreaking breakthroughs in mathematics.

Like this paper.

...

Germany, The city of Bern.

It was already six in the evening when Lotte Dugan called Peter Schultz.

Had Schultz not been arriving home late these days, it might've interrupted his life.

Once he decided to be a reviewer, though, he patiently waited for the paper to arrive.

Within two minutes, the paper landed in his inbox.

Skipping the boilerplate text from the journal's editorial team, Peter Schultz immediately clicked "Accept" and downloaded and printed the paper.

Hah... over 200 pages.

Although a 200-page math paper is not uncommon, this was Qiao Ze's work, after all.

Peter Schultz had read all of Qiao Ze's recent papers—the longest being the one proving the Mass Gap Hypothesis, and even that was only a bit over 80 pages.

Any mathematical problem requiring Qiao Ze to spend over 200 pages would naturally arouse immense curiosity.

As he bound the still-warm paper into a booklet, his gaze inadvertently drifted to the author section—then landed on the name of the second author: Edward Witten.

Peter Schultz instinctively curled his lips.

What can be said...? Regarding Edward Witten's abilities in mathematics and physics, Peter Schultz still had great respect.

But the reason Edward Witten bagged the Nobel this time...

Was practically thanks to Qiao Ze's achievements—a stroke of luck.

And then he became the first person in history to simultaneously win both the Nobel and Fields Medals, which felt somewhat opportunistic. It's true that this intertwined with his earlier successes; at the time, CERN was practically obsessed with Qiao Ze's theories, which spurred Witten's team into being the first to calculate evidence for them. But still, it left a sour taste.

Now, he had his name on this groundbreaking algebra paper as well—capitalizing endlessly.

Taking a deep breath to suppress his frustration, Peter Schultz turned his focus to the paper itself. Well, he'd skim the abstract first. Tomorrow was Christmas, and today was Christmas Eve. Life isn't just academic research; family matters too—plus, he had a gorgeous daughter. Reviewing the paper wasn't urgent.

"This paper explores the first principles of interweaving in number theory, starting with foundational concepts and delving into number theory's interweaving properties. Using the Prime Number Theorem ()∼/ln()​​, we analyze prime distributions within the interval [1,], and discuss modular arithmetic mod modm's applications in number theory... providing new perspectives and insights for understanding broader interactivity in mathematics."

After reading the abstract, Peter Schultz decided to glance at the main text. After all, it wouldn't take much time...

"Lemma 1: Fundamental Properties of Modular Arithmetic..."

...

"Oh, Daddy, it's Christmas Eve, and Mom and I have been waiting for you for so long!"

His daughter's voice on the phone jolted Peter Schultz from his immersion. Glancing at the time—it was already 8:30 PM. Over two hours had flown by unnoticed. Once again, he'd lost himself in his academic obsession.

"Sorry, I got caught up with work."

"But it's Christmas Eve, Daddy."

"Yes. By the way, Mia, would you mind changing environments—a new place to live?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, nothing important. Alright, I'll head back now."

"Okay. We're waiting for you."

...

After hanging up the phone, Peter Schultz hesitated before picking up the paper from the desk and placing it into his bag.

Though it was Christmas Eve, once his family went to bed, he could still carve out a bit of time to study the paper.

Admittedly, Lotte Dugan had struck a nerve—he truly couldn't resist the allure of this innovative algebra concept. It felt like standing before a newly opened doorway to another world.

Who could entirely suppress their curiosity about what lay behind a door to an unknown universe? Especially mathematicians, arguably the most curious minds around.

All bad people, aren't they!

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