Anil Ananthaswamy: What it takes to do extreme astrophysics

譯者: Lauren Huang 審譯者: Chih-Yuan Huang

I would like to talk today

今天我要講的是

about what I think is one of the greatest adventures

一種最棒的探險

human beings have embarked upon,

自人類啟程去尋找以來,最重要探險活動

which is the quest to understand the universe

那就是,了解宇宙

and our place in it.

以及我們在宇宙中的地位

My own interest in this subject, and my passion for it,

我自己對這個主題的興趣及熱情從何而來?

began rather accidentally.

開始其實很偶然

I had bought a copy of this book,

我買過ㄧ本書

"The Universe and Dr. Einstein" --

「宇宙和愛因斯坦先生」

a used paperback from a secondhand bookstore in Seattle.

在西雅圖的二手書店買的

A few years after that, in Bangalore,

買了之後的幾年,在印度班加羅爾

I was finding it hard to fall asleep one night,

有天晚上,睡不著

and I picked up this book,

我順手拿起這本書

thinking it would put me to sleep in 10 minutes.

以為它能幫我快速在10分鐘內進入夢鄉

And as it happened,

結果

I read it from midnight to five in the morning in one shot.

我從夜半讀到天色微明

And I was left with this intense feeling

那書帶給我極大的震撼

of awe and exhilaration

對宇宙敬畏

at the universe

和興奮兼而有之

and our own ability to understand as much as we do.

以及我們雖然極盡的想要了解,但了解的又那麼的有限

And that feeling hasn't left me yet.

那種感覺迄今猶存

That feeling was the trigger for me

並且引發我

to actually change my career --

起了「轉行」念頭

from being a software engineer to become a science writer --

從軟體工程師,成為一名科普文學作者

so that I could partake in the joy of science,

使我可以參與科學帶來的喜悅

and also the joy of communicating it to others.

以及和其他人分享科學知識的喜悅

And that feeling also led me

也是那種感覺

to a pilgrimage of sorts,

引領我啟動一場朝聖之旅

to go literally to the ends of the earth

朝著地球上的天之涯,水之巔向前

to see telescopes, detectors,

去探訪望遠鏡,探測器

instruments that people are building, or have built,

這些人類曾經打造過,或正在興建中的科學儀器

in order to probe the cosmos

奉宇宙之名而為之的探索

in greater and greater detail.

一步步探入了更多細節

So it took me from places like Chile --

所以,我去過智利

the Atacama Desert in Chile --

智利的阿塔卡瑪沙漠

to Siberia,

到過西伯利亞

to underground mines

下過地底礦脈坑道

in the Japanese Alps, in Northern America,

在日本阿爾卑斯山,北美洲

all the way to Antarctica

一路直到南極洲

and even to the South Pole.

甚至到了南極圈

And today I would like to share with you

今天要和各位分享

some images, some stories of these trips.

其中一些照片,及這些探索之旅的一些故事

I have been basically spending the last few years

最近幾年

documenting the efforts

我一直在記錄著這些人的努力

of some extremely intrepid men and women

這些有著大無畏精神的男性及女性

who are putting,

他們投入的

literally at times, their lives at stake

有時候是冒著生命危險

working in some very remote and very hostile places

在一些極遙遠,極惡劣下的環境工作

so that they may gather the faintest signals from the cosmos

為了收集宇宙中最微弱的一些信號

in order for us to understand this universe.

然後,我們才能更多一點了解宇宙

And I first begin with a pie chart --

我要從餅形圖先開始說起

and I promise this is the only pie chart

我保證這是唯一一張會講數字的投影片

in the whole presentation --

整個短講中唯一的一張餅形圖

but it sets up the state of our knowledge of the cosmos.

它用來說明我們對宇宙的粗淺認識

All the theories in physics that we have today

今天已知的所有物理學理論

properly explain what is called normal matter --

對正常物質都可以略做解釋

the stuff that we're all made of --

正常物質指的是我們身體組成物的這一類東西

and that's four percent of the universe.

這些一共只佔宇宙的4%

Astronomers and cosmologists and physicists think

天文學家,宇宙學家和物理學者認為

that there is something called dark matter in the universe,

宇宙裡有暗物質

which makes up 23 percent of the universe,

構成宇宙的23%

and something called dark energy,

然後還有暗能量

which permeates the fabric of space-time,

是瀰漫在整個空時架構當中的

that makes up another 73 percent.

暗能量佔了宇宙的73%

So if you look at this pie chart, 96 percent of the universe,

看看這張大餅圖,宇宙中96%

at this point in our exploration of it,

以當今我們對它的探索而言

is unknown or not well understood.

都仍屬未知,或不甚了解

And most of the experiments, telescopes that I went to see

大多數我去看過在進行中的實驗或望遠鏡設備

are in some way addressing this question,

為的都是要解答這個奧秘

these two twin mysteries of dark matter and dark energy.

暗物質和暗能量的雙子之謎

I will take you first to an underground mine

首先帶各位去看一個地下坑道

in Northern Minnesota

位在明尼蘇達北方

where people are looking

這裡有些人在找

for something called dark matter.

暗物質這種東西

And the idea here is that they are looking for a sign

概念上來說,他們找一個訊號

of a dark matter particle hitting one of their detectors.

如果有暗物質粒子撞上了它們的偵測器的話,會發出一個信號

And the reason why they have to go underground

為什麼他們得待在地底下

is that, if you did this experiment on the surface of the Earth,

原因,這個實驗若在地表上進行

the same experiment would be swamped by signals

太多地面上的雜訊會把這個關鍵信號淹沒掉

that could be created by things like cosmic rays,

譬如說宇宙射線之物

ambient radio activity,

到處都有的無線電信號

even our own bodies. You might not believe it,

甚至我們的身體,也許難以置信

but even our own bodies are radioactive enough to disturb this experiment.

但是你身體發出的信號都可能引響實驗的結果

So they go deep inside mines

所以他們得深入地底下

to find a kind of environmental silence

找到一個沉寂之處

that will allow them to hear

以便聽得到

the ping of a dark matter particle hitting their detector.

暗物質粒子撞上偵測器時發出的那個聲響

And I went to see one of these experiments,

我去看過他們的一場試驗

and this is actually -- you can barely see it,

現場像這樣 -- 幾乎啥都看不見

and the reason for that is it's entirely dark in there --

原因是那裡幾乎完全漆黑一片

this is a cavern that was left behind by the miners

這是個礦產業所留下來的洞穴

who left this mine in 1960.

他們1960年左右停止採礦

And physicists came and started using it

然後物理學者開始接手

sometime in the 1980s.

運用這座礦坑是在1980年

And the miners in the early part of the last century

上個世紀早期的礦工事實上

worked, literally, in candlelight.

是靠著燭光在這裡工作

And today, you would see this inside the mine,

今天在這個地方

half a mile underground.

大約深達地下半英里之處

This is one of the largest underground labs in the world.

這是世上少數幾個大型地下實驗室之ㄧ

And, among other things, they're looking for dark matter.

他們有好幾個目標,其中之ㄧ是尋找暗物質

There is another way to search for dark matter,

有好幾個方法可以尋找暗物質

which is indirectly.

是以間接方式

If dark matter exists in our universe,

如果暗物質存在於宇宙中

in our galaxy,

在我們的銀河系裡

then these particles should be smashing together

那麼這些粒子應該會撞在一起

and producing other particles that we know about --

創造出其他我們已知的粒子

one of them being neutrinos.

其中之ㄧ就是微中子

And neutrinos you can detect

探測微中子的方式是

by the signature they leave

可追蹤它們遺留的軌跡

when they hit water molecules.

它們撞擊水分子時

When a neutrino hits a water molecule

當微中子撞擊水分子時

it emits a kind of blue light,

它會發出一種藍色光

a flash of blue light,

藍色的閃光

and by looking for this blue light,

尋找這種藍色光

you can essentially understand something about the neutrino

對微中子的了解可能會增加一些認識

and then, indirectly, something about the dark matter

意味著我們對暗物質的認識也能更進一步

that might have created this neutrino.

微中子,有可能是由暗物質而來

But you need very, very large volumes of water

但我們需要很大量的水

in order to do this.

才能進行這個觀察實驗

You need something like tens of megatons of water --

需要上千萬噸的水

almost a gigaton of water --

幾乎上億噸的水

in order to have any chance of catching this neutrino.

為了要有點機會抓住微中子

And where in the world would you find such water?

世界上哪裡有這麼多水的地方?

Well the Russians have a tank in their own backyard.

俄羅斯的後院裡有個水庫

This is Lake Baikal.

貝加爾湖

It is the largest lake in the world. It's 800 km long.

全世界最大的湖。長800公里

It's about 40 to 50 km wide

寬度40到50公里

in most places,

多數的深度

and one to two kilometers deep.

約1到2公里

And what the Russians are doing

俄羅斯人現在做的工作是

is they're building these detectors

建造這些探測器

and immersing them about a kilometer beneath the surface of the lake

埋到河面底下一公里深的地方

so that they can watch for these flashes of blue light.

為了找尋這些一閃而過的藍色光

And this is the scene that greeted me when I landed there.

我降落在那裡的時候迎接我的就是這樣的景象

This is Lake Baikal

這是貝加爾湖

in the peak of the Siberian winter.

在西伯利亞冬季最低溫時

The lake is entirely frozen.

整個湖完全結冰

And the line of black dots

黑色點點的線

that you see in the background,

就是你在背景上看到的那些線

that's the ice camp where the physicists are working.

是在那裡工作的物理學家紮營的地點

The reason why they have to work in winter

必須在冬季裡工作的原因是

is because they don't have the money to work in summer and spring,

他們沒有在春夏季裡進行這些工作所需要的經費

which, if they did that,

因為如果那樣的話

they would need ships and submersibles to do their work.

他們需要船和潛水艇才行

So they wait until winter --

所以等到冬季

the lake is completely frozen over --

這時湖面完全結冰

and they use this meter-thick ice

運用厚度達一公尺的冰

as a platform on which to establish their ice camp and do their work.

得以在冰上建立營地以便工作得以展開

So this is the Russians working on the ice

所以俄羅斯人在冰上的工作

in the peak of the Siberian winter.

是這樣在西伯利亞最天寒地凍的冬季裡進行的

They have to drill holes in the ice,

必須在冰上鑿洞

dive down into the water -- cold, cold water --

潛水到水中 -- 很冷很冷的水中

to get hold of the instrument, bring it up,

取得儀器,帶上水面來

do any repairs and maintenance that they need to do,

進行任何必要的修理和維修

put it back and get out before the ice melts.

然後在冰層融化之前再趕快把儀器放回水底下去

Because that phase of solid ice lasts for two months

因為堅硬冰層只維持為期兩個月

and it's full of cracks.

完全像石頭一樣硬

And you have to imagine, there's an entire sea-like lake

想像一面向海一樣遼闊無邊的湖

underneath, moving.

在那湖面底下移動

I still don't understand this one Russian man

我迄今仍未明白這位俄羅斯男人

working in his bare chest,

赤裸著胸膛工作

but that tells you how hard he was working.

但這至少說明他有多認真工作

And these people, a handful of people,

這些人,數量不算少

have been working for 20 years,

已經如此工作了20年

looking for particles that may or may not exist.

尋找或許存在或不存在的粒子

And they have dedicated their lives to it.

為此獻上自己的生命

And just to give you an idea,

為了讓你有點概念

they have spent 20 million over 20 years.

20年來他們只花了2千萬

It's very harsh conditions.

條件很差

They work on a shoestring budget.

預算極為微薄

The toilets there are literally holes in the ground

冰上挖的洞就是洗手間

covered with a wooden shack.

上面加塊木板

And it's that basic,

這麼原始

but they do this every year.

年復一年的做

From Siberia to the Atacama Desert in Chile,

接下來,從西伯利亞我們去看智利的阿塔卡瑪沙漠

to see something called The Very Large Telescope.

去看一組叫做甚大望遠鏡的光學望遠鏡

The Very Large Telescope

「甚大望遠鏡」

is one of these things that astronomers do --

天文學家習慣

they name their telescopes rather unimaginatively.

取一些沒什麼想像力的名字

I can tell you for a fact,

我直接告訴各位

that the next one that they're planning is called The Extremely Large Telescope.

下一個計畫中的陣列,名字就叫做特大陣列望遠鏡

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

And you wouldn't believe it,

你不會相信

but the one after that is going to be called The Overwhelmingly Large Telescope.

再下一個又會叫做超級特大陣列望遠鏡

But nonetheless,

不管怎麼說

it's an extraordinary piece of engineering.

這是工程史上了不起的一個傑作

These are four 8.2 meter telescopes.

4架8.2米望遠鏡

And these telescopes, among other things,

這些望遠鏡有許多目的

they're being used to study

還包括用來研究

how the expansion of the universe is changing with time.

宇宙如何隨著時間而擴張

And the more you understand that,

愈多了解一些

the better you would understand

就愈明白

what this dark energy that the universe is made of is all about.

暗能量--一種生成了宇宙的東西--是什麼

And one piece of engineering that I want to leave you with

我要把一樣了不起的

as regards this telescope

和這望遠鏡相關的工程傑作向各位介紹

is the mirror.

是望遠鏡的鏡面

Each mirror, there are four of them,

一共有四個鏡面,每一面

is made of a single piece of glass,

都由一塊玻璃製成

a monolithic piece of high-tech ceramic,

單一一塊高科技陶瓷技術

that has been ground down and polished to such accuracy

被細磨,拋光到非常精準之程度

that the only way to understand what that is

怎樣想像了解這研磨達到多精密?

is [to] imagine a city like Paris,

你可以想像一個像巴黎一樣大的城市

with all its buildings and the Eiffel Tower,

所有建築物和艾菲爾鐵塔

if you grind down Paris to that kind of accuracy,

如果你以它的精準度去磨碎巴黎的話

you would be left with bumps that are one millimeter high.

碎塊大約只有一毫米厚

And that's the kind of polishing that these mirrors have endured.

這些鏡面承受過的研磨拋光精細度就是如此高

An extraordinary set of telescopes.

令人驚嘆的望遠鏡陣列組

Here's another view of the same.

另一個圖像

The reason why you have to build these telescopes

建造這些望遠鏡的理由

in places like the Atacama Desert

建造在阿塔卡瑪沙漠中

is because of the high altitude desert.

是因為在高緯度的沙漠中

The dry air is really good for telescopes,

乾燥的空氣才適合望遠鏡看得遠

and also, the cloud cover is below the summit of these mountains

並且,山頂高度已超過雲層

so that the telescopes have

這些望遠鏡一年

about 300 days of clear skies.

有300個無雲的天空可進行觀測

Finally, I want to take you to Antarctica.

最後我要帶你到北極洲

I want to spend most of my time on this part of the world.

我很想把大部分時間都花在這個角落

This is cosmology's final frontier.

這裡是宇宙學的最後一個前線區

Some of the most amazing experiments,

最奇異的一些實驗

some of the most extreme experiments,

最最超乎想像的實驗

are being done in Antarctica.

就是在南極洲這裡進行的

I was there to view something called a long-duration balloon flight,

我在那裡要看的是個叫做超長續航時間的氣球飛行計畫

which basically takes telescopes and instruments

基本上搭載的全都是望遠鏡和儀器

all the way to the upper atmosphere,

飛上大氣層高層

the upper stratosphere, 40 km up.

同溫層的上層,約40公里以上

And that's where they do their experiments,

實驗就在那裡進行

and then the balloon, the payload, is brought down.

然後氣球以及乘載之物,又再被帶下來

So this is us landing on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

這是我們,降落在南極洲的Ross Ice Shelf 這個地方

That's an American C-17 cargo plane

這是一架美國 C-17 貨機

that flew us from New Zealand

我們從紐西蘭啟程

to McMurdo in Antarctica.

抵達南極區的McMurdo

And here we are about to board our bus.

在這裡我們要搭轉乘巴士

And I don't know if you can read the lettering,

不知你能否看清楚上面寫的字

but it says, "Ivan the Terribus."

可以的話,所寫上的是「伊凡的恐怖巴士」

And that's taking us to McMurdo.

就是這個車,載我們前往McMurdo

And this is the scene that greets you in McMurdo.

那裡,列隊歡迎您光臨的是這個景象

And you barely might be able to make out

在那裡幾乎很難拼湊出

this hut here.

甚至只是一間像這樣的小屋

This hut was built by Robert Falcon Scott and his men

它是由羅伯法坎司考特和他的團隊建造的

when they first came to Antarctica

當他們第一次來到南極區

on their first expedition to go to the South Pole.

第一次進行南極探險時

Because it's so cold,

因為天氣酷寒

the entire contents of that hut is still as they left it,

他們離去時在小屋裡留下的東西都還和當初一樣

with the remnants of the last meal they cooked still there.

最後一次開火烹煮所剩餘食物都還在那裡

It's an extraordinary place.

非常特別的地方

This is McMurdo itself. About a thousand people work here in summer,

這是McMurdo,夏季約有1000人在這裡工作

and about 200 in winter

冬季則約200人

when it's completely dark for six months.

冬季時天全是黑的,要過6個月

I was here to see the launch

我在那裡要看發射

of this particular type of instrument.

這種特殊儀器的發射升空

This is a cosmic ray experiment

這是一種探測宇宙射線用的儀器

that has been launched all the way to the upper-stratosphere

向上發射直達同溫層上層

to an altitude of 40 km.

距離地面海拔約40公里處

What I want you to imagine is this is two tons in weight.

我希望各位想像一下的是,這裡有兩噸的重量

So you're using a balloon

用一個氣球當作飛行器

to carry something that is two tons

用來乘載兩噸的重量

all the way to an altitude of 40 km.

要到海拔約40公里的高空

And the engineers, the technicians, the physicists

工程師技術人員和物理學家

have all got to assemble on the Ross Ice Shelf,

都必須在這塊 Ross Ice Shelf 完成組裝

because Antarctica -- I won't go into the reasons why --

因為南極區 - 我不花時間解釋為什麼

but it's one of the most favorable places for doing these balloon launches,

是最適合從事這種實驗的地方之ㄧ

except for the weather.

除了氣候以外

The weather, as you can imagine,

可以想像,它的氣候

this is summer, and you're standing on 200 ft of ice.

即便夏天裡,也是站在厚200呎的冰層上

And there's a volcano behind,

後面有火山

which has glaciers at the very top.

火山頂上有冰層覆蓋

And what they have to do

他們必須做的是

is they have to assemble the entire balloon --

組裝整個氣球

the fabric, parachute and everything -- on the ice

編織品,降落傘和所有東西 -- 都在冰上完成

and then fill it up with helium.

再以氫氣將它灌飽

And that process takes about two hours.

這個過程費時約2小時

And the weather can change as they're putting together this whole assembly.

當組裝進行中,天氣可能說變就變

For instance, here they are laying down the balloon fabric behind,

例如,他們把未充氣前的氣球拖拉在後面

which is eventually going to be filled up with helium.

最後會以氦氣灌滿這支氣球

Those two trucks you see at the very end

所看到最後兩台卡車

carry 12 tanks each of compressed helium.

每輛乘載著12桶壓縮氦氣

Now, in case the weather changes before the launch,

要是天氣在發射升空之前起變化

they have to actually pack everything back up into their boxes

所有東西都得裝回箱子裡恢復原狀

and take it out back to McMurdo Station.

再運回McMurdo基地站

And this particular balloon,

這顆特製的汽球

because it has to launch two tons of weight,

設計是要乘載兩噸重的物品升空

is an extremely huge balloon.

所以非常非常大

The fabric alone weighs two tons.

氣球體本身重量兩噸

In order to minimize the weight,

為了縮減重量

it's very thin, it's as thin as a sandwich wrapper.

它很薄,厚度只和包裝三明治包裝紙一樣

And if they have to pack it back,

要重新打包

they have to put it into boxes

裝回箱子的話

and stamp on it so that it fits into the box again --

得要用力推壓加上封印

except, when they did it first,

最初裝箱作業

it would have been done in Texas.

是在德州完成

Here, they can't do it with the kind shoes they're wearing,

這裡他們腳上穿的鞋子不適合完成這個工作

so they have to take their shoes off,

所以鞋子得脫掉

get barefoot into the boxes, in this cold,

在南極的天候中光腳進入箱子裡

and do that kind of work.

完成打包的工作

That's the kind of dedication these people have.

這就是這些人對科學作出的貢獻

Here's the balloon being filled up with helium,

這些氣球充滿了氦氣以後

and you can see it's a gorgeous sight.

這是甚為壯觀的一幕

Here's a scene

請看

that shows you the balloon and the payload end-to-end.

完整的氣球外加上承載物品一覽

So the balloon is being filled up with helium on the left-hand side,

左邊的氣球正在充灌氦氣

and the fabric actually runs all the way to the middle

一直到中間都是氣球

where there's a piece of electronics and explosives

中段附近有一個電子裝置負責點火引爆

being connected to a parachute,

是和一張降落傘相連

and then the parachute is then connected to the payload.

降落傘再和裝載物相連

And remember, all this wiring is being done

提醒您,這些佈線工作

by people in extreme cold, in sub-zero temperatures.

都是在極度寒冷零下氣候中靠人力施工的

They're wearing about 15 kg of clothing and stuff,

他們身上穿著重達15公斤的衣物和設備

but they have to take their gloves off in order to do that.

但是有時為了工作的緣故手套卻得脫掉

And I would like to share with you a launch.

這裡和大家分享一段升空的影片

(Video) Radio: Okay, release the balloon,

(來自影片的聲音)無線電:OK,釋放氣球

release the balloon, release the balloon.

釋放氣球,釋放氣球

Anil Ananthaswamy: And I'll finally like to leave you with two images.

安尼 阿拿司旺米: 結束前我還有兩張圖片

This is an observatory in the Himalayas, in Ladakh in India.

這是位在喜馬拉雅山上的觀測站,印度的拉達克

And the thing I want you to look at here

請細看

is the telescope on the right-hand side.

右手邊的望遠鏡

And on the far left there

及最左邊

is a 400 year-old Buddhist monastery.

一間400年歷史的佛寺

This is a close-up of the Buddhist monastery.

建築物近照

And I was struck by the juxtaposition

兩相並列之下令我心頭一震

of these two enormous disciplines that humanity has.

是這人類的兩大學科

One is exploring the cosmos on the outside,

一個向外探索無邊的宇宙

and the other one is exploring our interior being.

一個是向內探索深層的內在

And both require silence of some sort.

二者都需要某種寂靜的要素

And what struck me was

令我震撼的是

every place that I went to to see these telescopes,

每一處我前往參觀的望遠鏡

the astronomers and cosmologists

每一位天文學家和宇宙學者

are in search of a certain kind of silence,

無不是正尋找著一種,無聲的狀態

whether it's silence from radio pollution

或在電波訊號受干擾的環境中尋找

or light pollution or whatever.

或在光害嚴重的環境中尋找

And it was very obvious

顯然

that, if we destroy these silent places on Earth,

破壞地球上的無聲寧靜以後

we will be stuck on a planet without the ability to look outwards,

也就失去了對大千宇宙感知的能力

because we will not be able to understand the signals that come from outer space.

因為我們理解不了,那來自外太空的訊號

Thank you.

謝謝

(Applause)

(掌聲)