As I put the final touches on my first scientific paper, I envision three possible scenerios following its submission to arXiv and Nature Physics:

1. Rejection. I accept the possibility that I may have a fundamental misunderstanding of the science. Although I have experiments that seem to prove my hypotheses, maybe there are factors that invalidate my findings. I don’t have a PhD, so perhaps that’s why all the PhDs out there haven’t published similar findings already; they’re wrong.

2. Acceptance. My idea originated from a specific experience that I have had, that I theorize most researchers have not had. Maybe I really thought of something that no one else has thought of before, because others lack that specific experience.

3. Contribution. If I am wrong, I hope to make a contribution akin to how the No Cloning Theorem originated. Although the author of a paper intended to prove the opposite of that theory, his failure nonetheless led to advancing the field.