Allan Adams: The discovery that could rewrite physics

翻译人员: Peipei Xiang 校对人员: Isabel Lin

If you look deep into the night sky,

抬头仰望夜空，

you see stars,

你会看到星星。

and if you look further, you see more stars,

如果你看得远一些，你会看到更多的星星，

and further, galaxies, and further, more galaxies.

再远一些，你会看到星系， 更远一些，你会看到更多的星系。

But if you keep looking further and further,

但是如果你一直看下去，

eventually you see nothing for a long while,

最终会有一段时间内你什么也看不到，

and then finally you see a faint, fading afterglow,

最终你会看到一阵微弱的，若隐若现的余辉，

and it's the afterglow of the Big Bang.

那是宇宙大爆炸的余辉。

Now, the Big Bang was an era in the early universe

大爆炸时期是宇宙的早期，

when everything we see in the night sky

那时候我们现在能看到的夜空中的一切

was condensed into an incredibly small,

还是一团极小的、

incredibly hot, incredibly roiling mass,

极热的滚滚的东西，

and from it sprung everything we see.

而从那里产生了我们现在看得到的一切。

Now, we've mapped that afterglow

如今，我们已经能够非常精确地

with great precision,

测绘这个余辉，

and when I say we, I mean people who aren't me.

当我说“我们”的时候，其实并不包括我。

We've mapped the afterglow

我们极其精确地

with spectacular precision,

测绘了这个余辉，

and one of the shocks about it

其中一个让人非常震惊的发现是，

is that it's almost completely uniform.

它几乎是完全一致的。

Fourteen billion light years that way

往这边140亿光年，

and 14 billion light years that way,

往那边140亿光年，

it's the same temperature.

都是一样的温度。

Now it's been 14 billion years

如今从大爆炸以来，

since that Big Bang,

130亿年已经过去了，

and so it's got faint and cold.

它已经变得微弱、寒冷。

It's now 2.7 degrees.

现在是2.7度。

But it's not exactly 2.7 degrees.

但它并不是确切的2.7度。

It's only 2.7 degrees to about

只有大约百万分之十的部分

10 parts in a million.

是2.7度。

Over here, it's a little hotter,

这边稍微热一些，

and over there, it's a little cooler,

那边稍微冷一些，

and that's incredibly important to everyone in this room,

而这对在座的每一位都非常重要，

because where it was a little hotter,

因为那些稍微热一点的地方

there was a little more stuff,

有更多的东西，

and where there was a little more stuff,

而有更多东西的地方

we have galaxies and clusters of galaxies

则有星系、星系团

and superclusters

和超星系团，

and all the structure you see in the cosmos.

以及你在宇宙中看到的所有其他东西。

And those small, little, inhomogeneities,

而那些小小的不均匀的东西，

20 parts in a million,

百万分之二十的部分，

those were formed by quantum mechanical wiggles

是由量子力学的作用形成的，

in that early universe that were stretched

是整个宇宙体系的

across the size of the entire cosmos.

早期宇宙。

That is spectacular,

这非常震撼，

and that's not what they found on Monday;

不过他们星期一发现的不是这个，

what they found on Monday is cooler.

他们星期一的发现更震撼。

So here's what they found on Monday:

接下来我要讲的就是他们星期一的发现：

Imagine you take a bell,

想象一口钟，

and you whack the bell with a hammer.

你用锤子敲了一下这口钟。

What happens? It rings.

发生了什么？它发出了响声。

But if you wait, that ringing fades

但是如果你等着，这个响声会退去，

and fades and fades

慢慢退去，

until you don't notice it anymore.

直到你完全听不见。

Now, that early universe was incredibly dense,

早期的宇宙非常的致密，

like a metal, way denser,

像一块金属，不过致密得多，

and if you hit it, it would ring,

如果你敲它，它会发出响声，

but the thing ringing would be

发出的响声就是

the structure of space-time itself,

时空架构，

and the hammer would be quantum mechanics.

而用的锤子就是量子力学。

What they found on Monday

他们星期一的发现就是找到了

was evidence of the ringing

早期宇宙的

of the space-time of the early universe,

时空响声的证据，

what we call gravitational waves

我们称之为引力波，

from the fundamental era,

它来自于一个非常重要的时期，

and here's how they found it.

他们是如何发现的呢？

Those waves have long since faded.

那些引力波早就已经退去了。

If you go for a walk,

如果你去散步，

you don't wiggle.

你不会晃来晃去。

Those gravitational waves in the structure of space

这些宇宙中的引力波

are totally invisible for all practical purposes.

在现实中是完全感受不到的。

But early on, when the universe was making

但是在早期，也就是当宇宙在形成

that last afterglow,

它的余辉时，

the gravitational waves

这些引力波

put little twists in the structure

在我们所能看到的光的

of the light that we see.

结构中加了点小漩涡。

So by looking at the night sky deeper and deeper --

所以通过反复观察夜空，

in fact, these guys spent three years on the South Pole

事实上，这些人在南极花了三年的时间

looking straight up through the coldest, clearest,

抬头仰望夜空，那里有他们能找到的

cleanest air they possibly could find

最寒冷、清澈和干净的大气，

looking deep into the night sky and studying

他们抬头仰望夜空并研究

that glow and looking for the faint twists

那个余辉，

which are the symbol, the signal,

寻找引力波的印迹，

of gravitational waves,

也就是那些微弱的漩涡，

the ringing of the early universe.

早期宇宙的响声。

And on Monday, they announced

星期一，他们宣布

that they had found it.

他们找到了。

And the thing that's so spectacular about that to me

最让我震惊的

is not just the ringing, though that is awesome.

不只是这个响声，虽然这也非常棒。

The thing that's totally amazing,

最让我震惊的是，

the reason I'm on this stage, is because

也是我在这个台上的原因，因为

what that tells us is something deep about the early universe.

这告诉了我们更多关于早期宇宙的东西。

It tells us that we

它告诉我们

and everything we see around us

我们周围看到的一切

are basically one large bubble --

其实就是一个大泡泡——

and this is the idea of inflation—

这也是宇宙暴涨理论认为的——

one large bubble surrounded by something else.

一个被其他东西围绕的大泡泡。

This isn't conclusive evidence for inflation,

这并不足以证明宇宙暴涨理论，

but anything that isn't inflation that explains this

不过任何试图解释此现象的非宇宙暴涨理论

will look the same.

看上去也会差不多。

This is a theory, an idea,

这是一个理论，一个想法，

that has been around for a while,

它已经存在了一段时间了，

and we never thought we we'd really see it.

我们从来没有想过我们会真的看到它（被证明的一天）。

For good reasons, we thought we'd never see

这是有原因的，因为我们觉得我们永远不会找到

killer evidence, and this is killer evidence.

有说服力的证据，而这就是非常有说服力的证据。

But the really crazy idea

但是更疯狂的是，

is that our bubble is just one bubble

我们的泡泡只是一个

in a much larger, roiling pot of universal stuff.

更大的滚滚宇宙中的其中一个泡泡。

We're never going to see the stuff outside,

我们永远看不到外面的泡泡，

but by going to the South Pole and spending three years

但是去南极并在那里待上三年，

looking at the detailed structure of the night sky,

研究夜空的具体构成，

we can figure out

我们会发现

that we're probably in a universe that looks kind of like that.

我们大概就处在一个看上去像这样的宇宙里边。

And that amazes me.

而这让我震撼不已。

Thanks a lot.

非常感谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）