In the high-temperature laboratory, Li Qingsong attempted to create even higher temperatures by bombarding targets with Lasers and high-energy Particles.
Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of a Particle. In that sense, Li Qingsong had already generated an ultra-high temperature approaching 10 trillion degrees Celsius within a Particle Collider. At this temperature, he had observed many peculiar phenomena, which allowed him to greatly refine his theories.
However, that was only on a microscopic scale, where the high-temperature region merely involved a few fundamental Particles. The macroscopic scale was another matter entirely.
Creating ultra-high temperatures on a macroscopic scale was also of great significance.
Such macroscopic high temperatures could not be achieved even with a Nuclear Fusion Reactor. The core of a Nuclear Fusion Reactor only reaches a few hundred million degrees Celsius; compared to the ultra-high temperatures of scientific research, that was practically frigid.
Extraordinary measures were necessary.
The methods Li Qingsong adopted were concentrated high-energy Laser irradiation and high-energy Particle bombardment.
In truth, these two methods could be considered one and the same. Fundamentally, high-energy Laser irradiation is simply the impact of high-energy Photons, which still falls under the broader category of high-energy Particle collisions.
Li Qingsong had custom-designed devices similar to a Particle Collider, built specifically to accelerate Particles and then focus them to bombard a target.
Thus, Li Qingsong succeeded in heating a 5-gram piece of zinc to one trillion degrees Celsius, all while it was confined within a magnetic field.
At one trillion degrees Celsius, forget molecules—not even atoms could exist. The atomic nuclei, and even the protons and neutrons that composed them, were all torn apart.
As a result, Li Qingsong observed a macroscopic gluon plasma for the first time, verifying the unusual changes in the Strong Core Force under these conditions and further deepening his understanding of it.
Beyond high temperatures, there were also low temperatures.
Using the Doppler effect as a basis, Li Qingsong employed a laser beam to decelerate atoms and reduce their kinetic energy. He then precisely removed the highest-energy atoms. This multi-pronged approach lowered the temperature to a point extremely close to absolute zero.
In a medium at this temperature, even the speed of light changed.
Li Qingsong watched as light crawled through the medium like a snail. Even one of the Clones walking at a leisurely pace could easily move faster than light in this state.
Of course, this did not mean true superluminal speed had been achieved.
The speed of light, in the context of physics, refers to its speed in a vacuum. This is an immutable constant that cannot be surpassed. However, the speed of light in other media can vary and is easily surpassed.
In the cores of the massive spherical ships, neutrino telescopes worked nonstop, observing one neutrino collision event after another.
Neutrino telescopes operate on the principle that secondary Particles can travel through water faster than light can propagate through water.
When a neutrino strikes a water molecule, the resulting secondary Particles emit a specific type of radiation as they travel at superluminal speeds. By observing this radiation, information about the original neutrino can be obtained.
Each of these large-scale scientific installations consumed immense amounts of energy.
Never mind the energy consumed by the Particle Colliders, Gravitational Wave Detectors, Neutrino Detectors, and high- and low-temperature labs themselves; simply processing the data from these massive installations kept over 20,000 Quantum Supercomputers running at full capacity for long periods.
The Quantum Supercomputers themselves required extremely low temperatures—even colder than the cosmic microwave background radiation. This meant that even in the frigid expanse of the Cosmos, they needed to continuously dissipate heat.
The energy required to power the chips was even more immense. A rough calculation showed that the twenty-thousand-plus Quantum Supercomputers dedicated to processing data from the scientific installations consumed an average of 80 billion kilowatt-hours per day. Their annual consumption reached a staggering 29.2 trillion kilowatt-hours—more than the entire Human Civilization had consumed back in the era of nation-states!
The entire power consumption of a fledgling Electroweak Civilization was now being used merely to keep the supercomputers running. And what was the supercomputers' power consumption compared to Li Qingsong's entire fleet?
Within Li Qingsong's fleet, over 2 billion Clones remained conscious, consuming immense amounts of food, water, and oxygen every day. To conserve supplies, the material recycling systems ran around the clock.
The ships' own systems also consumed enormous amounts of energy. All told, the fleet could likely exhaust the entire material and energy reserves of a typical Electroweak Civilization's Interstellar Fleet in a very short time.
Fortunately, the scale of Li Qingsong's fleet was large enough to support this immense consumption of materials and energy.
Time trickled by. The fleet's more than one billion consciousness connections remained constantly occupied. Outside of their designated rest times, all two billion Clones were either busy with physical work or resting their bodies while mentally strained from contributing their brainpower.
At every moment, countless shuttles zipped between the massive ships. The fleet's numerous factories, devices, laboratories, and large-scale scientific installations worked ceaselessly. It was as if they were still in a resource-rich Interstellar System.
It was under these circumstances that dozens of Neutrino Detectors simultaneously reported a rather strange phenomenon to Li Qingsong.
They had once again simultaneously detected a neutrino burst event.
The neutrino burst possessed a high energy level, presumably originating from some violent astronomical event, such as the collision of celestial bodies or a Stellar eruption.
By cross-referencing data from the different neutrino telescopes, Li Qingsong managed to pinpoint the approximate location of the burst's source.
The data showed that it was located roughly 16,000 light-years away, near the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy.
A single violent astronomical event was not, in itself, unusual. Such things happened in the Cosmos almost every day.
But the strange part was... 'Why was the interval so short?'
This was not the first time Li Qingsong had observed such a signal.
Just six months prior, Li Qingsong had observed a signal of the same type, intensity, and coordinates.
'Could such a violent astronomical event really happen twice in the same location?'
This was illogical.
No known astronomical event could cause this. It contradicted Li Qingsong's entire theoretical framework.
Faced with this bizarre phenomenon that could potentially overturn his entire theoretical framework, Li Qingsong felt no anger or frustration. On the contrary, he was exhilarated.
It wasn't just Li Qingsong; the Blueprint Scientists were also buzzing with excitement.
In scientific research, what scientists hope for most is to find a phenomenon that contradicts their own theories—something that can overturn their previous work and completely prove them wrong.
For only then could they discover new physical laws and further perfect their theoretical framework!