The beginning of the universe, for beginners - Tom Whyntie

宇宙的起源:：对初学者 - Tom Whyntie

Translator: Andrea McDonough Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

翻译人员: fang fang 校对人员: Minji Seo

The universe,

宇宙

rather beautiful, isn't it?

有异常的美丽，难道不是吗？

It's quite literally got everything,

它差不多什么都有

from the very big

从极大的

to the very small.

到极小的。

Sure, there are some less than savory elements in there,

没错，宇宙中也存在不那么好的因素，

but on the whole, scholars agree that its existence

但是总体来说，科学家一致认为，

is probably a good thing.

宇宙的存在或许是一件好事。

Such a good thing that an entire field of scientific endeavor

这让整个领域的科学家

都为宇宙的探究奉献力量。

is devoted to its study.

This is known as cosmology.

这就是众所周知的宇宙学。

Cosmologists look at what's out there in space

宇宙学家在探寻宇宙，

and piece together the tale of how our universe evolved:

并且把关于宇宙形成的各种零散的理论结合在一起

what it's doing now,

宇宙现在是什么样子

what it's going to be doing,

以后会是什么样子，

and how it all began in the first place.

刚开始的时候又是什么样子

It was Edwin Hubble who first noticed that our universe is expanding,

这是爱德温·哈勃率先提出的

我们的宇宙在不断扩大

by noting that galaxies seem to be flying further and further apart.

他指出银河看起来

离我们越来越飞远

This implied that everything should have started

这意味着所有东西

都应该开始于

with the monumental explosion

of an infinitely hot,

在无限的热量

infinitely small point.

和无限的小的点之中的巨大的爆炸

This idea was jokingly referred to at the time

这个观点也就是以前开玩笑所指的

as the "Big Bang,"

“宇宙大爆炸”

but as the evidence piled up,

但是根据各种资料所示

the notion and the name actually stuck.

这个概念

和这个名字

是不统一的。

We know that after the Big Bang,

我们知道，在宇宙大爆炸之后，

the universe cooled down

宇宙开始降温，

to form the stars and galaxies that we see today.

形成了我们今天所看到的星星和银河

Cosmologists have plenty of ideas about how this happened.

宇宙学家对此

有很多观点

But we can also probe the origins of the universe

但是我们可以探究宇宙的起源通过

by recreating the hot, dense conditions that existed at the beginning of time

在实验室初期

重铸那个高温，高密度的环境

in the laboratory.

This is done by particle physicists.

粒子物理学者做了这个工作。

Over the past century,

在过去的世纪里

particle physicists have been studying

粒子物理学家一直在学习

matter and forces at higher and higher energies.

拥有更高更高能量的实物和力量。

Firstly with cosmic rays,

首先，在宇宙射线的影响下，

and then with particle accelerators,

接下来是粒子加速，

machines that smash together subatomic particles at great energies.

在很大的能量之下，机器

把亚原子的粒子粉碎

The greater the energy of the accelerator,

加速的能量越大，

the further back in time they can effectively peek.

能有效地探测到的时间就更久远

Today, things are largely made up of atoms,

如今，万物大部分是由原子组成的

but hundreds of seconds after the Big Bang,

但是在宇宙大爆炸几百秒之后

it was too hot for electrons to join atomic nuclei to make atoms.

由于温度太高，电子不能与

原子核组成新的原子。

Instead, the universe consisted of a swirling sea of subatomic matter.

取而代之，宇宙是

由漩涡流的亚原子组成的

A few seconds after the Big Bang,

在宇宙大爆炸几秒钟后

it was hotter still,

他的温度还是很高

hot enough to overpower the forces

高到能够控制那些

that usually hold protons and neutrons together

让质子和中子结合的力量

in atomic nuclei.

在原子核内。

Further back, microseconds after the Big Bang,

进一步的，在宇宙大爆炸后的几微秒，

and the protons and neutrons

在中子和质子正准备

were only just beginning to form from quarks,

从夸克形成的时候，

one of the fundamental building blocks

（夸克是标准粒子物理模型

of the standard model of particle physics.

形成的基本模块之一）。

Further back still,

再退一步，

这个能量大到

and the energy was too great even for the quarks to stick together.

能让夸克紧紧结合在一起

Physicists hope that by going to even greater energies,

物理学家希望达到越大的能量

they can see back to a time when all the forces were one and the same,

他们能回到

所有能量都合为一体的时候

which would make understanding

这样可以更加容易

去理解宇宙的起源

the origins of the universe a lot easier.

To do that, they'll not only need to build bigger colliders,

这样的话，他们将不仅仅需要建更大的对撞机

but also work hard to combine our knowledge

还需要更努力的结合我们的知识

of the very, very big

关于这个很大很大

with the very, very small

但又很小很小的宇宙

and share these fascinating insights with each other

并且，把这些有意思的观点

分享给别人

and with, well, you.

当然，包括你。

And that's how it should be!

这就是它本来应该的样子！

Because, after all, when it comes to our universe,

因为，毕竟，

关于'宇宙'这个话题

我们都同在。

we're all in this one together.