In the high-temperature laboratory, Li Qingsong was attempting to create even higher temperatures through methods such as laser and high-energy particle bombardment.
Temperature is an indicator of the average kinetic energy of particles. Based on this metric, Li Qingsong had already created ultra-high temperatures approaching 10 trillion degrees Celsius in particle colliders. He observed many peculiar phenomena at these temperatures, which greatly improved his theories.
However, that was only on a microscopic scale, with the high-temperature region only involving some fundamental particles. The macroscopic scale is different from the microscopic scale.
Preparing ultra-high temperatures on a macroscopic scale is also of great significance.
Such macroscopic high temperatures cannot be achieved even using nuclear fusion reactors for heating. The core temperature of a nuclear fusion reactor is only a few hundred million degrees Celsius, which is basically cool compared to the ultra-high temperatures used for research.
Additional methods must be used.
The methods Li Qingsong adopted were concentrated high-energy laser irradiation and high-energy particle bombardment.
However, these two methods can be considered the same. High-energy laser irradiation, in essence, can be regarded as the impact of high-energy photons, still a type of high-energy particle impact in a broad sense.
Li Qingsong specifically developed equipment similar to particle colliders to accelerate particles and then focus them to bombard targets.
Thus, Li Qingsong achieved the goal of heating a 5-gram zinc sheet to a temperature of one trillion degrees Celsius under magnetic confinement.
At one trillion degrees Celsius, not only molecules but even atoms cease to exist. Atomic nuclei, and even the protons and neutrons that make up the atomic nuclei, are broken apart.
Consequently, Li Qingsong observed gluon plasma in a macroscopic state for the first time, verifying the changes in the strong nuclear force under macroscopic conditions, further increasing his understanding of the strong nuclear force.
Besides high temperatures, there are also low temperatures.
Based on the Doppler effect, Li Qingsong decelerated atoms using laser beams, reducing their kinetic energy. Then, through precise manipulation, he removed high-energy atoms. With multiple approaches, the temperature was lowered to extremely close to absolute zero.
In this temperature medium, even the speed of light changed.
Li Qingsong saw light moving slowly through the medium like a snail. Even a clone's slow walk could easily exceed the speed of light.
Of course, this does not mean the realization of faster-than-light travel in the physical sense.
The speed of light in the physical sense refers to the speed of light in a vacuum. The speed of light in a vacuum is a constant and cannot be surpassed. However, the speed of light in other media can change and can be easily exceeded.
The cores of those giant spherical spaceships, neutrino telescopes, were also working continuously, observing one neutrino collision event after another.
The working principle of neutrino telescopes is based on the fact that the movement of secondary particles in water exceeds the speed of light in water.
Because secondary particles generated after neutrinos collide with water molecules move at a speed faster than light, they cause some kind of radiation. By observing this radiation, relevant information about neutrinos can be obtained.
Each large scientific device consumes enormous amounts of energy.
Not to mention the energy consumption of particle colliders, gravitational wave detectors, neutrino detectors, high and low-temperature laboratories, and other equipment themselves, just processing the data produced by these many large scientific devices keeps over 20,000 quantum-electric supercomputers running at full capacity for a long time.
Quantum-electric supercomputers themselves require extremely low temperatures, even lower than the temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation. This means that even in the cold vacuum of space, they need to constantly dissipate heat.
The energy required to drive the chips is even more enormous. Roughly calculated, the total power consumption of these 20,000 quantum-electric supercomputers used to process data from large scientific devices reaches an average of 80 billion kilowatt-hours per day, and an annual power consumption of up to trillion kilowatt-hours, which is higher than the total power consumption of the entire human civilization in the national era!
The entire power consumption of a primary electroweak civilization is now only used to maintain the operation of supercomputers. And what is the power consumption of supercomputers compared to Li Qingsong's entire fleet at this moment?
In Li Qingsong's fleet, there are more than 2 billion clones who remain conscious, consuming enormous amounts of food and water every day, and consuming enormous amounts of oxygen. To save materials, material recycling equipment operates around the clock.
The operation of the spaceship's own equipment also consumes enormous energy. All in all, it could probably deplete all the materials and energy reserves of an ordinary electroweak civilization's interstellar fleet in a short period of time.
Fortunately, Li Qingsong's fleet is large enough to support this enormous consumption of materials and energy.
Time slowly passed. The number of consciousness connections exceeding 1 billion was always fully occupied. The 2 billion clones were all either working busily or contributing their brainpower in a state of physical rest and mental tension, except during rest periods.
A large number of shuttlecraft constantly travel between different giant spaceships. Numerous factories, equipment, laboratories, and large scientific devices work non-stop. Everything is as if it were in a resource-rich star system.
In this situation, dozens of neutrino detectors simultaneously reported a rather strange phenomenon to Li Qingsong.
They simultaneously detected another neutrino burst event.
The neutrino burst had a high energy level and was speculated to have originated from some relatively violent astronomical phenomena, such as celestial collisions or stellar explosions.
Through cross-localization by different neutrino telescopes, Li Qingsong roughly completed the localization of the radiation source of this neutrino burst.
The data showed that it was located approximately 16,000 light-years away, near the edge of the Milky Way.
A violent astronomical phenomenon is not surprising. This kind of thing happens almost every day in the universe.
But the strange thing is... why is the interval so short?
Li Qingsong has observed this kind of signal more than once.
Just half a year ago, Li Qingsong had already observed this signal once. Its type, intensity, coordinates, and other data were all consistent with this one.
Could it be that in one place, this kind of violent astronomical event would happen twice in a row?
This is not reasonable.
No astronomical event can cause this to happen. This violates Li Qingsong's known theoretical system.
Faced with this peculiar phenomenon that could almost overturn his theoretical system, Li Qingsong was not angry or frustrated at all, but full of excitement.
Not only Li Qingsong, but the blueprint scientists were also full of excitement.
Because in scientific research, what scientists look forward to most is finding phenomena that do not conform to their own theories, preferably overturning their previous theories and completely negating their past selves.
Because only in this way can new physical theories be found, and their theoretical systems can be further improved!
