Aaron O'Connell: Making sense of a visible quantum object

譯者: Joan Liu 審譯者: Ana Choi

This is a representation of your brain,

這是一個代表你大腦的圖像。

and your brain can be broken into two parts.

而你的大腦可以分成兩個部分。

There's the left half, which is the logical side,

左半邊，這是掌控邏輯的一邊，

and then the right half,

然後是右半邊，

which is the intuitive.

它掌控直覺。

And so if we had a scale to measure the aptitude of each hemisphere,

所以如果我們有一個尺度去衡量這兩邊，

then we can plot our brain.

那麼我們可以繪製我們的大腦。

And for example, this would be somebody who's completely logical.

譬如，這是一個完全靠邏輯的人的大腦。

This would be someone who's entirely intuitive.

這個人是完全直觀。

So where would you put your brain on this scale?

那麼，你會把你的大腦放在這個尺上的哪裡？

Some of us may have opted for one of these extremes,

有些人可能會選擇其中一個極端，

but I think for most people in the audience,

但我認為，對大多數在台下的人，

your brain is something like this --

你們的大腦是這樣的 --

with a high aptitude in both hemispheres at the same time.

兩個腦半球同時有著很高的潛力。

It's not like they're mutually exclusive or anything.

不是說它們會互相排斥或什麼的。

You can be logical and intuitive.

你可以既理性又感性。

And so I consider myself one of these people,

我自認為是一個和很多

along with most of the other experimental quantum physicists,

其他的量子物理學家一樣,

who need a good deal of logic

有很好的邏輯思維

to string together these complex ideas.

能把這些複雜的想法串連起來。

But at the same time, we need a good deal of intuition

但同時，我們也需要很好的直覺

to actually make the experiments work.

讓實驗能切實的進行下去。

How do we develop this intuition? Well we like to play with stuff.

我們如何啟發這種直覺呢？嗯，我們喜歡研究東西。

So we go out and play with it, and then we see how it acts,

所以我們會去研究東西，然後我們會看它怎麼反應。

and then we develop our intuition from there.

接著我們從中提升我們的直覺力。

And really you do the same thing.

實際上你也做同樣的事情。

So some intuition

所以有一些直覺，

that you may have developed over the years

你可能培養了很多年，

is that one thing is only in one place at a time.

像一個事物只能同時出現在一個方位。

I mean, it can sound weird to think about

我的意思是，這聽起來很奇怪去考慮

one thing being in two different places at the same time,

一個事物可以同時出現在兩個不同的地方，

but you weren't born with this notion, you developed it.

但是你不是天生就有這種概念，你是後天培養的。

And I remember watching a kid playing on a car stop.

我記得看到過一個小孩在阻車器上玩。

He was just a toddler and he wasn't very good at it, and he kept falling over.

他還只是個小朋友，而且非常不擅長玩這個，他一直摔倒。

But I bet playing with this car stop taught him a really valuable lesson,

但是我打賭跟阻車器玩耍給他上了很有價值的一課，

and that's that large things don't let you get right past them,

就是大型的物體不會輕易的讓你穿過，

and that they stay in one place.

而且它們停留在一個地方。

And so this is a great conceptual model to have of the world,

這是世上擁有的一個很具備概念性的模型，

unless you're a particle physicist.

除非你是粒子物理學家。

It'd be a terrible model for a particle physicist,

對於粒子物理學家這會是一個很糟糕的模型，

because they don't play with car stops,

因為他們不研究阻車器，

they play with these little weird particles.

他們研究那些很小的奇怪微粒。

And when they play with their particles,

當他們研究這些微粒的時候，

they find they do all sorts of really weird things --

他們發現他們都在做各種很奇怪的事情--

like they can fly right through walls,

比如他們能穿牆，

or they can be in two different places at the same time.

或者他們能同時出現在兩個地方。

And so they wrote down all these observations,

他們寫下這些觀察記錄，

and they called it the theory of quantum mechanics.

然後他們把它起名為量子力學理論。

And so that's where physics was at a few years ago;

而幾年前的物理學就是這樣；

you needed quantum mechanics

你需要量子​​力學

to describe little, tiny particles.

來描述細小，微小的粒子。

But you didn't need it

但是你不需要

to describe the large, everyday objects around us.

它來描述那些巨大的、生活周遭的尋常物體。

This didn't really sit well with my intuition,

這並不是很符合我的直覺認知，

and maybe it's just because I don't play with particles very often.

也許只是因為我不太時常研究微粒的緣故吧。

Well, I play with them sometimes,

我有時候也會玩這些，

but not very often.

但不是常常。

And I've never seen them.

而且我從來沒有看過他們。

I mean, nobody's ever seen a particle.

我的意思是，沒有人看過這些微粒。

But it didn't sit well with my logical side either.

但這跟我的理性不大相符。

Because if everything is made up of little particles

因為如果所有東西都是由微小微粒組成的

and all the little particles

而且所有微粒

follow quantum mechanics,

都遵守量子力學，

then shouldn't everything just follow quantum mechanics?

那不是所有東西都應該符合量子力學嗎？

I don't see any reason why it shouldn't.

我看不出為什麼不會。

And so I'd feel a lot better about the whole thing

所以我覺得

if we could somehow show

如果能夠讓

that an everyday object

周遭所有東西都遵守量子物理

also follows quantum mechanics.

會讓我覺得更好過一點。

So a few years ago, I set off to do just that.

所以在幾年前，我開始這麼做。

So I made one.

所以我製造了一個東西。

This is the first object

這是第一個

that you can see

你可以看得見

that has been in a mechanical quantum superposition.

且可以表現得如量子力學解釋那樣。

So what we're looking at here

所以我們這裡看到的是

is a tiny computer chip.

一個很小的電腦晶片。

And you can sort of see this green dot right in the middle.

而且你可以稍微看到這中間的綠點。

And that's this piece of metal I'm going to be talking about in a minute.

那就是我接下來要講的金屬。

This is a photograph of the object.

這是這個物件的照片。

And here I'll zoom in a little bit. We're looking right there in the center.

放大一些看。我們現在看到的是在正中間。

And then here's a really, really big close-up of the little piece of metal.

這是非常非常接近地看這塊小金屬。

So what we're looking at is a little chunk of metal,

所以我們看到的是這塊小金屬，

and it's shaped like a diving board, and it's sticking out over a ledge.

它的形狀像潛水板，而且它的周圍稍微凸出一些。

And so I made this thing

我用製造電腦晶片幾乎一樣的手法

in nearly the same way as you make a computer chip.

製作這個東西。

I went into a clean room with a fresh silicon wafer,

我拿一個矽晶圓進到一個無塵室，

and then I just cranked away at all the big machines for about 100 hours.

然後跟那些機器工作了大約一百個小時。

For the last stuff, I had to build my own machine --

在最後的時候，我自己做了一個機器

to make this swimming pool-shaped hole

來製造下方這個

underneath the device.

游泳池形狀的洞。

This device has the ability

這個器具

to be in a quantum superposition,

可以在量子的形態存在，

but it needs a little help to do it.

但它需要經過一些加工。

Here, let me give you an analogy.

現在，讓我給你們一個比喻。

You know how uncomfortable it is to be in a crowded elevator?

像是在很擠的電梯裡會感到不適，

I mean, when I'm in an elevator all alone, I do all sorts of weird things,

我的意思是，當我自己一個人在電梯時，我會做很多奇怪的事，

but then other people get on board

但當有其它人進到電梯時，

and I stop doing those things

我停止做這些事，

because I don't want to bother them,

因為我不想要打擾他們，

or, frankly, scare them.

或是說嚇壞他們。

So quantum mechanics says

所以量子力學說，

that inanimate objects feel the same way.

無生命物體也這麼認為。

The fellow passengers for inanimate objects

對無生命物體來說,

are not just people,

乘客不只是人，

but it's also the light shining on it

也包括了光源、

and the wind blowing past it and the heat of the room.

風和房間裡的熱。

And so we knew, if we wanted to see

所以我們知道，如果我們想要看

this piece of metal behave quantum mechanically,

這塊金屬以量子力學的方式呈現，

we're going to have to kick out all the other passengers.

我們需要把所有乘客都趕出去。

And so that's what we did.

我們就是這麼做的。

We turned off the lights,

我們把燈關掉，

and then we put it in a vacuum and sucked out all the air,

然後用吸塵器把氣體吸掉，

and then we cooled it down

然後讓它冷卻

to just a fraction of a degree above absolute zero.

至比絕對零度高好幾分之一的溫度。

Now, all alone in the elevator,

現在，自己一個在電梯裡，

the little chunk of metal is free to act however it wanted.

這個小金屬可以做任意的事。

And so we measured its motion.

所以我們量測它的活動。

We found it was moving in really weird ways.

我們發現它以奇怪的方式運動。

Instead of just sitting perfectly still, it was vibrating,

它沒有靜止不動，而是在震動。

and the way it was vibrating was breathing something like this --

而且它震動的方式是有點像這樣的：

like expanding and contracting bellows.

像是吸氣吐氣的風箱。

And by giving it a gentle nudge,

當我們給它一點能量，

we were able to make it both vibrate

我們能夠使它同時震動

and not vibrate

及不震動

at the same time --

在同一時間 --

something that's only allowed with quantum mechanics.

這只有在量子物理中是被容許的。

So what I'm telling you here is something truly fantastic.

所以我在這裡告訴大家的這是一件真的奇妙的事情。

What does it mean for one thing

一個東西

to be both vibrating and not vibrating

的同時在震動也不震動，

at the same time?

這是什麼意思？

So let's think about the atoms.

讓我們考慮一下原子。

So in one case:

舉例而言：

all the trillions of atoms that make up that chunk of metal

所有萬億個形成金屬片的原子

are sitting still

正保持靜止狀態

and at the same time those same atoms

然後在此同時，同樣的這些原子

are moving up and down.

正在上下移動。

Now it's only at precise times when they align.

只有在特定精確時間，它們是一致的。

The rest of the time they're delocalized.

餘下的時間它們則是不定域的。

That means that every atom

這意味著每個原子

is in two different places at the same time,

在同一時間在兩個不同的地方，

which in turn means the entire chunk of metal

進一步說明整個金屬片

is in two different places.

在兩個位置。

I think this is really cool.

我認為這真的很酷。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Really.

真的。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

It was worth locking myself in a clean room to do this for all those years

我這些年把自己鎖在無菌室所做的事都是值得的。

because, check this out,

因為，看看這個,

the difference in scale

一個原子和一塊小金屬

between a single atom and that chunk of metal

在尺度上的不同

is about the same as the difference

就跟你和這塊小金屬的不同

between that chunk of metal and you.

差不多。

So if a single atom can be in two different places at the same time,

所以如果一個原子可以同時在兩個地方，

that chunk of metal can be in two different places,

那塊金屬可以同時在兩個地方，

then why not you?

那為什麼你不能？

I mean, this is just my logical side talking.

我的意思是，這只是我的合理推測。

So imagine if you're in multiple places at the same time,

所以想像你可以同時在不同的地方，

what would that be like?

那會是怎麼樣的呢？

How would your consciousness

你的意識

handle your body being delocalized in space?

能夠接受你同時在不同地方嗎？

There's one more part to the story.

這個故事還有另一個部份。

It's when we warmed it up,

就是當我們給這個東西加熱，

and we turned on the lights and looked inside the box,

且我們把燈打開來看這個盒子裡面，

we saw that the piece metal was still there in one piece.

我們看到那塊金屬還是在那裡的。

And so I had to develop this new intuition,

所以我必須發展另一個直覺，

that it seems like all the objects in the elevator

就是看起來像是電梯裡所有的東西

are really just quantum objects

都是量子物體，

just crammed into a tiny space.

只是放在一個狹小的空間裡。

You hear a lot of talk

你們聽過很多說法

about how quantum mechanics says that everything is all interconnected.

說量子力學是在說每個東西都有交互作用。

Well, that's not quite right.

這並不是完全正確的；

It's more than that; it's deeper.

應該說，是更深奧的。

It's that those connections,

是這些交互作用，

your connections to all the things around you,

你和你周圍東西的交互作用，

literally define who you are,

事實上定義著你。

and that's the profound weirdness of quantum mechanics.

而這正是量子力學奇怪的地方。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）