Allan Adams: The discovery that could rewrite physics

譯者: Thunder Song 審譯者: Adrienne Lin

If you look deep into the night sky,

如果你望著深夜的天空，

you see stars,

你就會看到星星，

and if you look further, you see more stars,

而且如果你看的更遠， 就能看到更多的星星，

and further, galaxies, and further, more galaxies.

更遠點，就能看到一些星系， 再遠點，更多星系。

But if you keep looking further and further,

但是如果你朝著更遠的地方看，

eventually you see nothing for a long while,

會有很長的一段時間， 你什麽也看不見。

and then finally you see a faint, fading afterglow,

最終你會看到一個模糊、褪色的餘暉，

and it's the afterglow of the Big Bang.

這就是大爆炸後的餘暉。

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

大爆炸是宇宙初始的一個時代，

when everything we see in the night sky

現在我們在夜空中看到的所有東西

was condensed into an incredibly small,

都濃縮於一個不可思議小的、

incredibly hot, incredibly roiling mass,

極其熱的、不停翻滾的質體，

and from it sprung everything we see.

我們看到的所有東西，便是從這裡釋放出來的。

Now, we've mapped that afterglow

我們已精確地勘測到了那片餘暉，

with great precision,

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

當我說「我們」的時候， 我指的是除我之外的人。

We've mapped the afterglow

我們已經繪製了那些餘暉的地圖，

with spectacular precision,

使用了驚人的精度，

and one of the shocks about it

令人驚訝的就是這些餘暉幾乎是完全相同的。

is that it's almost completely uniform.

Fourteen billion light years that way

從那個方向140億光年之外

and 14 billion light years that way,

以及從那個方向140億光年之外，

it's the same temperature.

有著相同的溫度。

Now it's been 14 billion years

從大爆炸開始算起， 如今已經有14億年。

since that Big Bang,

and so it's got faint and cold.

所以它已開始變得模糊、變冷。

It's now 2.7 degrees.

現在只有2.7度。

But it's not exactly 2.7 degrees.

但並不恰好是2.7度。

It's only 2.7 degrees to about

僅僅只有百億分之十是2.7度。

10 parts in a million.

Over here, it's a little hotter,

在那裡，稍微熱一點； 在那裡，稍微冷一點。

and over there, it's a little cooler,

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

這對在場的每一位都極其重要，

because where it was a little hotter,

因為在稍微熱一點的地方，

there was a little more stuff,

那裡有更多的物體，

and where there was a little more stuff,

當那裡有更多的物體時，

we have galaxies and clusters of galaxies

我們就能觀測到星系、 星系團、超星系團，

and superclusters

and all the structure you see in the cosmos.

以及你觀測到的所有宇宙結構。

And those small, little, inhomogeneities,

這些小型的、少量的、不均勻的，

20 parts in a million,

占了百億分之二十，

those were formed by quantum mechanical wiggles

這些是由量子力學的產生的扭力形成的，

in that early universe that were stretched

在宇宙的初期，它們被拉伸

across the size of the entire cosmos.

穿過了整個宇宙的大小。

That is spectacular,

這是十分壯觀的，

and that's not what they found on Monday;

而且這並不是他們週一發現的，

what they found on Monday is cooler.

他們週一的發現更加驚人。

So here's what they found on Monday:

這就是他們週一的發現：

Imagine you take a bell,

想像你帶著一口鐘，

and you whack the bell with a hammer.

你用鐵錘猛擊這口鐘。

What happens? It rings.

會發生什麽事？它會響。

But if you wait, that ringing fades

但是如果你接著等，聲音就會減小，

and fades and fades

減小並且減小，

until you don't notice it anymore.

直到你聽不見為止。

Now, that early universe was incredibly dense,

早期的宇宙密集的不可思議，

like a metal, way denser,

甚至比金屬還密集，

and if you hit it, it would ring,

如果你撞擊它，它會產生聲音，

but the thing ringing would be

但是物體產生聲音就是

the structure of space-time itself,

就是時空結構本身，

and the hammer would be quantum mechanics.

這時的鐵錘就是量子力學。

What they found on Monday

他們週一所發現的

was evidence of the ringing

就是早期宇宙時空產生的

of the space-time of the early universe,

響聲的證據，

what we call gravitational waves

我們叫做引力波，

from the fundamental era,

來自一個基礎的時代，

and here's how they found it.

現在我來解釋他們如何發現的。

Those waves have long since faded.

這些波已消退很長的一段時間。

If you go for a walk,

如果你出門散步，

you don't wiggle.

你並不會擺來擺去。

Those gravitational waves in the structure of space

這些在宇宙結構中的引力波

are totally invisible for all practical purposes.

在實際用途中是完全感受不到的。

But early on, when the universe was making

但是在早期的宇宙，當宇宙還在形成

that last afterglow,

最後的餘暉時，

the gravitational waves

引力波

put little twists in the structure

在可見光的結構中產生了扭曲

of the light that we see.

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

所以透過對更遠以外夜晚天空的觀察，

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

事實上， 這些人在南極花了三年的時間，

looking straight up through the coldest, clearest,

透過了他們能找的最冷、最清楚、

cleanest air they possibly could find

最乾淨空氣進行直接觀察，

looking deep into the night sky and studying

望著天空最深的地方並且進行研究

that glow and looking for the faint twists

光暈以及尋找消退的扭曲，

which are the symbol, the signal,

這個信號就是引力波的標誌，

of gravitational waves,

the ringing of the early universe.

早起宇宙的響聲。

And on Monday, they announced

並且在週一，他們宣佈

that they had found it.

他們已經找到了。

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

我對這件事感到震驚的原因

is not just the ringing, though that is awesome.

並不因為是這個響聲， 儘管這個已經很棒了。

The thing that's totally amazing,

這件事如此不可思議，

the reason I'm on this stage, is because

以致於讓我站在這裡的原因，在於

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

這個發現 告訴了我們早期宇宙深處的一些東西。

It tells us that we

它告訴我們

and everything we see around us

我們現在身邊所看到的一切東西

are basically one large bubble --

其實是個極大的泡泡，

and this is the idea of inflation—

這就是宇宙暴漲的概念，

one large bubble surrounded by something else.

一個被其他東西所包圍的極大泡泡。

This isn't conclusive evidence for inflation,

這並不是宇宙暴漲的決定性證據，

but anything that isn't inflation that explains this

但其它解釋這情況卻非宇宙暴漲的東西

will look the same.

看起來就長這樣。

This is a theory, an idea,

這是一個理論、一個想法，

that has been around for a while,

已經存在了一段時間了，

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

我們從未覺得我們能觀察的到。

For good reasons, we thought we'd never see

我們有充分的理由，認為永遠看不到

killer evidence, and this is killer evidence.

關鍵的證據，而這就是關鍵證據。

But the really crazy idea

但真正令人瘋狂的想法是，

is that our bubble is just one bubble

我們的泡泡只是其中一個

in a much larger, roiling pot of universal stuff.

存在於一個更大、攪動的宇宙體系中。

We're never going to see the stuff outside,

我們從未觀察到這之外的東西，

but by going to the South Pole and spending three years

但是透過在南極花費了三年時間，

looking at the detailed structure of the night sky,

觀察著夜空結構的細節，

we can figure out

我們可以發現

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

我們可能生存在一個像這樣的宇宙。

And that amazes me.

這就是讓我覺得驚奇的地方。

Thanks a lot.

謝謝大家

(Applause)

（掌聲）