29/ PR replied with a "rather strong response" to TVR, including a cc to TVR's personal email address.
Shortly thereafter, he got a phone call from TVR.
It turns out that TVR HAD NEVER WRITTEN ANY SUCH EMAIL.
Conversation
30/ Both the email asking PR not to criticize the authors, and the supposed discussion between TVR and Pandey were fabricated by someone pretending to be TVR.
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31/ Looking back at the email supposedly from TVR to PR, they realize that it was sent from a mail server called protonmail, which is double-encrypted. Email address <wileslicher@protonmail.com>, which neither of them recognized.
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32/ PR's description of the incident is here:
facebook.com/pratap.raychau
Guys, it's hard to properly convey how surreal this all feels. It's way more drama than I ever thought I would encounter in physics.
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33/ I swear I am not making this up.
Yesterday I got a Facebook friend request from someone I had never heard of, and I ignored it. I realize today that the person's name was "Wiles Licher". (Same as the email address above)
Zero friends, account one month old.
... should I??
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34/ This is probably paranoid, but I'll give a warning anyway:
If anyone gets an email from me about this business, please reply to my MIT email address to confirm that it was actually from me.
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35/ This thread has become way more sensation than it I wish it were.
So let me say something that probably needs saying: the mysterious "Wiles Licher" is very likely some third-party troll using this controversy as a chance to mess with people.
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36/ The reality of the claims in the paper will be decided (by people closer to the situation and more expert in the field than I am) on the basis of data and reproducibility. Weird shenanigans are a distraction to the important question.
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37/ So please don't think I'm weaving a conspiracy theory against the authors or anyone else.
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38/ Strangely, though, the "Wiles Licher" account was created July 7. That's 16 days _before_ the paper appeared on the arxiv.
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Replying to
I’m now very pleased my people have managed to produce a very entertaining physics drama 😎
Is there a physics drama Oscar?
Wiles Licher is an unusual enough name I’m inclined to suspect an anagram.
Replying to
I tried to find one, actually! Nothing seemed promising in English.
I was thinking maybe "wiles" like cunning/deceit, and "Licher" to sound like "leaker".
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Clue in the FB profile painting maybe? Looks like some famous scene.
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