Jedidah Isler: How I fell in love with quasars, blazars and our incredible universe

譯者: Hengguang Mao 審譯者: 杏儀 歐陽

My first love was for the night sky.

我的初戀是夜空

Love is complicated.

這種喜愛很複雜

You're looking at a fly-through of the Hubble Space Telescope Ultra-Deep Field,

大家看到的是 電腦模擬的哈勃望遠鏡超深空圖像

one of the most distant images of our universe ever observed.

這是目前為止 我們觀察到的最遙遠的圖像之一

Everything you see here is a galaxy,

你看見的一切同屬一個星系

comprised of billions of stars each.

這個星系由上十億顆星球組成

And the farthest galaxy is a trillion, trillion kilometers away.

距離我們最遠的星系在數以萬億千里外

As an astrophysicist, I have the awesome privilege of studying

作為一個天體物理學家 我很幸運地能夠學習

some of the most exotic objects in our universe.

宇宙中最遙遠的一些天體

The objects that have captivated me from first crush throughout my career

首先吸引到我注意力的天體

are supermassive, hyperactive black holes.

是超重、超活躍的黑洞

Weighing one to 10 billion times the mass of our own sun,

黑洞的重量是我們太陽的100億倍

these galactic black holes are devouring material,

這些星際的黑洞在吞噬物質

at a rate of upwards of 1,000 times more

與「普通」超重黑洞相比，

than your "average" supermassive black hole.

這些黑洞吞噬速度要快1000倍有多。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

These two characteristics,

這兩個特徵

with a few others, make them quasars.

加上其他一些特徵， 讓這些黑洞成為「類星體」

At the same time, the objects I study

同時，我研究的這些天體

are producing some of the most powerful particle streams

在釋放一些迄今為止剛測到的

ever observed.

能量最強的粒子流

These narrow streams, called jets,

這些狭窄的噴射流束

are moving at 99.99 percent of the speed of light,

運動速度達到光速的99.99%

and are pointed directly at the Earth.

並且運動方向直接朝向地球

These jetted, Earth-pointed, hyperactive and supermassive black holes

這些高速、高度活躍、超質量的黑洞

are called blazars, or blazing quasars.

被稱作「躍變體」或者「熾熱類星體」

What makes blazars so special is that they're some of the universe's

躍變體的獨特之處在於：

它們是宇宙中最高效的粒子加速器之一

most efficient particle accelerators,

transporting incredible amounts of energy throughout a galaxy.

它們在星系中輸送大到難以置信的能量

Here, I'm showing an artist's conception of a blazar.

這裡是從藝術家的角度看躍變體的概念

The dinner plate by which material falls onto the black hole

物質掉入黑洞時所穿過的「餐碟」

is called the accretion disc,

叫「吸積盤」

shown here in blue.

也就是藍色部分

Some of that material is slingshotted around the black hole

有一些物質在黑洞周圍被彈射

and accelerated to insanely high speeds

並在流束中加速到異常的高速

in the jet, shown here in white.

白色部分是流束

Although the blazar system is rare,

雖然躍變體系統非常罕見

the process by which nature pulls in material via a disk,

但是大自然通過盤面吸入物質

and then flings some of it out via a jet, is more common.

然後通過流束拋出， 這一過程更加常見

We'll eventually zoom out of the blazar system

我們最終縮小躍變體系統

to show its approximate relationship to the larger galactic context.

來展示其與更大星系體的潛在聯繫

Beyond the cosmic accounting of what goes in to what goes out,

除了宇宙中「進出」黑洞的物質

one of the hot topics in blazar astrophysics right now

目前天體物理學界熱點話題之一

is where the highest-energy jet emission comes from.

是那些高能噴射流束的來源

In this image, I'm interested in where this white blob forms

在這圖像裡，我很想知道 這白色光團是在哪裡形成的；

and if, as a result, there's any relationship between the jet

噴射流束與吸積盤之間

and the accretion disc material.

有沒有任何的關聯？

Clear answers to this question

我們無法清楚回答這個問題

were almost completely inaccessible until 2008,

直到2008年

when NASA launched a new telescope that better detects gamma ray light --

美國航空航天局發射了一個 能夠更好地觀測伽瑪射線的天文望遠鏡

that is, light with energies a million times higher

相比於常規的X射線

than your standard x-ray scan.

伽瑪射線擁有的能量高達一百萬倍

I simultaneously compare variations between the gamma ray light data

我年復一年、日復一日地對比 可見光的數據和伽瑪射線的數據

and the visible light data from day to day and year to year,

我年復一年，日復一日地對比 可見光的數據和伽瑪射線的數據

to better localize these gamma ray blobs.

來更好地定位這些伽瑪射線團

My research shows that in some instances,

我的研究表明，在某些時候

these blobs form much closer to the black hole

這些光團會在黑洞附近形成

than we initially thought.

比我們的預想的要近很多

As we more confidently localize

當我們能夠更加肯定地定位

where these gamma ray blobs are forming,

那些伽瑪射線形成的位置

we can better understand how jets are being accelerated,

我們可以更好地解釋 噴射流束是如何被加速的

and ultimately reveal the dynamic processes

並最終發現

by which some of the most fascinating objects in our universe are formed.

宇宙中最迷人的那些天體 形成的動態過程

This all started as a love story.

這一切始於一個愛情故事

And it still is.

並一直都是

This love transformed me from a curious, stargazing young girl

這個愛好將我從一個 好奇、仰望星空的小女孩

to a professional astrophysicist,

變成了一個專業的天體物理學家

hot on the heels of celestial discovery.

熱衷于追隨天體發現的足跡

Who knew that chasing after the universe

誰知道，追隨宇宙的足跡

would ground me so deeply to my mission here on Earth.

會讓我在地球 深深地投身于我的工作中

Then again, when do we ever know where love's first flutter

我們什麼時候會知道 我們最初的愛好

will truly take us.

最終會把我們帶到何方

Thank you.

謝謝大家

(Applause)

（掌聲）