Four months after returning to the United States from Geneva, Raj took the lead in publishing the paper "Charged Higgs Bosons in the Single Top Production at the Large Hadron Collider."
The publication immediately caused a tremendous stir in the physics community.
Whether the Higgs boson exists has always been an unsolved mystery of physics—one of the most fundamental questions plaguing researchers for decades.
Now, Raj pointed out that the Higgs boson really exists by meticulously analyzing the experimental data provided by CERN. His findings were backed by rigorous statistical analysis and comprehensive theoretical frameworks.
This news was nothing short of earth-shattering.
Within hours, everyone in the physics community rushed to visit the preprint website and scrambled to download Raj's paper. Researchers from universities and laboratories worldwide wanted to see on what basis he concluded that the Higgs boson really exists and was actually observed by the research center.
Because there were too many simultaneous visitors, the preprint website crashed for several hours—an unprecedented occurrence. This was also a rare thing, testament to the extraordinary interest Raj's work had generated.
When people finally managed to read Raj's paper, they had to admire his remarkable insight and analytical prowess. He had actually found compelling evidence of the Higgs boson's existence in the vast ocean of experimental data. This was truly amazing—a feat that demonstrated both technical skill and theoretical intuition.
One must understand that the data generated by the ALICE experiment amounted to a staggering 12 terabytes. Finding evidence of the Higgs boson from such a massive dataset was no less difficult than finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. The complexity of separating signal from background noise required extraordinary computational skills and physical intuition.
However, Raj had managed to identify the Higgs boson's signature within just four months of intensive analysis, which was genuinely astounding to his peers.
Subsequently, Raj's paper was accepted by the industry's premier journal, the "Journal of High Energy Physics," after an expedited peer review process. The reviewers praised the work's rigor and significance.
Moreover, soon after the academic acceptance, mainstream media outlets received the news and reported it immediately, bringing Raj's discovery to public attention.
"The luckiest person in history: first discovered a habitable planet, now discovers the God particle! The odds are 100,000 times smaller than winning the lottery," proclaimed one headline.
Media reports naturally focused on the entertainment angle. In view of Raj's successive discoveries of habitable exoplanets and the God particle—both extremely low-probability events with considerable legendary appeal—they concentrated their coverage on the human interest story.
The reports focused almost exclusively on Raj and gave him the lion's share of credit for discovering the God Particle. By contrast, CERN, which had actually generated the experimental data that led to the God particle's discovery, was only mentioned briefly in the reports, relegated to a supporting role.
Because of this media attention, Raj monopolized the spotlight, became famous virtually overnight, and emerged as the hottest academic star in physics.
This development also greatly satisfied the top management of Caltech. Dr. Gablehauser and President Seibert praised him effusively on multiple occasions, and the University Award committee had already designated him as the recipient for the year.
What was even more significant was that the school administration decided to strongly recommend him as a candidate for the prestigious MacArthur Genius Award.
The MacArthur Genius Award is one of the highest interdisciplinary honors in the United States. It was founded in 1981 and named after John D. MacArthur, the founder of Bankers Life and Casualty Company (not to be confused with the five-star general Douglas MacArthur).
The MacArthur Genius Award aims to recognize exceptionally creative talents who play important roles in social development and cultural advancement. Every year, the foundation selects 20 to 25 outstanding individuals across various fields, providing each recipient with a no-strings-attached grant totaling $625,000, distributed over five years, allowing them the freedom to continue their explorations without financial constraints.
Because of Raj's outstanding contributions in both astrophysics and particle physics—achievements that had surpassed those of his peers and positioned him as a leader in his generation—he possessed a distinct advantage in competing for the MacArthur Genius Award.
The opportunity to compete for the MacArthur Genius Award represented excellent news for Raj on multiple levels.
On one hand, the award carried tremendous prestige. Previous recipients were all recognized leaders in their respective fields who had made outstanding contributions to human knowledge. Therefore, receiving this award would represent powerful affirmation of his scientific contributions and cement his reputation.
On the other hand, the award came with a substantial monetary prize of over half a million dollars—already considered a considerable sum for most people, even successful academics.
Although Raj currently earned enough money to live comfortably, no one ever thinks they have too much money. Besides, financial security provides a foundation for personal relationships, and having additional resources would make certain aspects of his social life more convenient.
Therefore, in order to strengthen his competitive advantage and further consolidate his achievements, Raj made persistent efforts. He successively released two more papers: "The Higgs Bosons of LEP and LHC at 98 and 125 GeV Respectively" and "Observation of Z Boson Decay to Four Leptons with the CMS Detector at the Large Hadron Collider." These publications continued to create sensations in the academic community.
"Raj, you are absolutely on fire right now!" Howard said enviously to Raj one afternoon while they were eating lunch in the university cafeteria.
In less than half a month, three heavyweight papers in top-tier journals—such prolific output was truly remarkable.
One must understand that even a top scholar like Sheldon, with his exceptional abilities, considered publishing three significant papers in one year to be quite an accomplishment.
Paige, sitting across the table, also looked at Raj with admiring eyes, her expression reflecting genuine respect.
While other expert researchers were still struggling to make sense of the massive datasets, feeling overwhelmed and directionless, Raj had already published three heavyweight papers and successfully identified traces of the Higgs boson with apparent ease.
This combination of superhuman analytical ability and seemingly supernatural luck was genuinely awe-inspiring.
"This ALICE experiment really provided me with tremendous inspiration," Raj acknowledged with a modest nod and smile.
Internally, he knew that in the next one or two months, he planned to publish approximately ten additional papers, systematically harvesting the scientific fruits yielded by the ALICE experiment data.
"If only I had accompanied you to Geneva," Howard said with evident regret, not for the first time.
Compared to Raj, who was firing on all cylinders, achieving frequent breakthrough results, and gaining both fame and fortune in spectacular fashion, Howard felt he had accomplished essentially nothing in the past two weeks—time that seemed completely wasted.
"Don't be discouraged," Raj quickly offered reassurance, seeing his friend's disappointment. "Our collaborative project is about to begin. When that happens, you'll also gain recognition and financial rewards."
"Yeah, you're right," Howard nodded, his spirits lifting as he contemplated future possibilities.
They had agreed that after celebrating the New Year, they would commence development of the prototype quantum navigation system—an ambitious undertaking with significant implications.
Once the development proved successful, they could file for patents and establish licensing agreements with commercial partners.
Quantum navigation systems had broad applications in the civilian sector, and they stood to earn substantial income from licensing fees alone, potentially running into millions of dollars.
"What project are you two talking about?" Paige asked with natural curiosity, leaning forward slightly.
"Quantum navig—" Howard began enthusiastically, always eager to impress, and when Paige showed interest, he immediately started to elaborate.
Raj quickly reached over and covered Howard's mouth with his hand, then turned to Paige with an apologetic but firm smile. "It's confidential for now. I'll tell you about it when the time is right—I promise."
Paige blinked, processing this response, then smiled understandingly. "Okay, I can wait."
Raj then shot Howard a stern, warning glare that clearly communicated his displeasure.
The quantum navigation system was no trivial matter. This represented cutting-edge technology with potential world-changing applications. It had extensive uses in both military and civilian domains, possessed incalculable value, and carried enormous strategic significance. Such information absolutely could not be casually disclosed to outsiders, no matter how trustworthy they might seem.
Howard, realizing he had nearly committed a serious breach of confidence, immediately looked embarrassed and chagrined, his face reddening.
"By the way, I heard that Leonard and Penny seem to have broken up again," he said, attempting to move past his embarrassment by changing the subject to campus gossip.
"That's not surprising at all," Raj responded with a knowing smile.
Penny hadn't settled down yet—she remained quite social and enjoyed an active nightlife. Meanwhile, Leonard was fundamentally a homebody, and from the perspective of most people, he came across as rather boring and overly focused on his work.
Their personalities and lifestyles were simply incompatible at this stage, so they couldn't really connect on a deeper level. Even if they forced themselves to stay together temporarily, they would inevitably separate before long.
However, Raj reflected philosophically, people always mature eventually. Penny would likely embrace a more settled lifestyle sooner or later, and when that time came, her best candidate for a life partner would almost certainly be Leonard—assuming he remained patient and available.
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