評(píng)論
打印
Leaders
社論
Cosmology
宇宙學(xué)
Man suddenly sees the start of the universe
揭秘宇宙的起源
The quest to understand reality takes a great leap backwards
科學(xué)新突破—探索宇宙誕生之初的真相
IN THE beginning was the word and the word was “inflation”.
宇宙初始皆起源于“膨脹”二字。
That is no blasphemy. It is, rather, a celebration of human curiosity, ingenuity and bloody-minded persistence in the quest to try to find out how the universe actually works.
與其說(shuō)這是對(duì)神明的褻瀆，不如說(shuō)是人類對(duì)于宇宙奧秘求知若渴、精密巧思和堅(jiān)持不懈的頌揚(yáng)。
No one yet knows how the universe came into existence.
沒(méi)有人能知曉宇宙是如何從無(wú)到有的。
Those who believe it was created by God are as free today as they were a week ago to continue in that belief, as are those who think the whole thing is the chance result of a quantum fluctuation in the nothingness beforehand.
相信神創(chuàng)世論的人們可以像一周前一樣繼續(xù)他們的信仰，而那些相信量子波動(dòng)創(chuàng)世論的人也可以同樣不改初衷。
But results of a study of the early universe using BICEP2, a telescope located near the South Pole, where the air is thin and isolation keeps equipment clean, suggest what happened very shortly afterwards.
然而，科學(xué)家們?cè)诳諝庀”〖儍?、能最大限度降低設(shè)備雜質(zhì)的南極建立了 “BICEP2”大型望遠(yuǎn)鏡，并據(jù)此研究揭開(kāi)了宇宙創(chuàng)始后極短時(shí)間內(nèi)發(fā)生的事情。
These findings, announced on March 17th, are of signs of primordial gravitational waves.
3月17號(hào)公布的最新發(fā)現(xiàn)顯示了原始引力波存在的跡象。
They confirm the theory, debated among astrophysicists for three decades, that within a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second of the moment it began the universe got bigger. Immensely bigger.
證實(shí)了一個(gè)在天體物理學(xué)界被爭(zhēng)論了三十年的理論：宇宙在誕生之后的一萬(wàn)億的一萬(wàn)億的一萬(wàn)億分之一秒內(nèi)急速膨脹至超級(jí)大。
A volume of space that started off no larger than an atom in the pre-inflation universe would, after inflation, have been about the size of the solar system.
從膨脹前比原子還小的空間擴(kuò)大至太陽(yáng)系大小。
Apart from the sheer gobsmackingness of this claim, the BICEP2 team's discovery is important for three reasons.
除了讓人感嘆上帝創(chuàng)世的無(wú)窮威力之外，BICEP2研究團(tuán)隊(duì)的發(fā)現(xiàn)有三個(gè)重要意義。
By confirming inflation it explains why the universe still exists,since it was inflation which stopped it fluctuating back into the void.
首先，通過(guò)證實(shí)膨脹的發(fā)生解釋了宇宙為什么依然存在,正是因?yàn)榕蛎?，才避免了宇宙波?dòng)回到之前的虛無(wú)狀態(tài)。
By confirming the existence of gravitational waves, it bolsters Einstein's general theory of relativity, which predicts them.
其次，愛(ài)因斯坦廣義相對(duì)論預(yù)測(cè)了宇宙膨脹的發(fā)生，而通過(guò)證實(shí)引力波的存在為這一理論的提供了支持證據(jù)。
And by linking gravitational waves with inflation it provides a chink through which physicists can peer to try to solve one of their field's biggest mysteries: why general relativity, which has passed every test applied to it, cannot be reconciled with quantum theory, which has also passed every test applied to it.
第三，通過(guò)把引力波和膨脹聯(lián)系起來(lái)，物理學(xué)家們打開(kāi)了一扇可以解決本領(lǐng)域內(nèi)最大謎團(tuán)之一的大門：為什么廣義相對(duì)論和量子理論這兩個(gè)已經(jīng)被無(wú)數(shù)次證實(shí)了的真理始終無(wú)法共存。
Quantum theory is the theory of small things.
量子論是研究微觀世界的理論。
It describes electromagnetism and two less-familiar forces that operate at the scale of atomic nuclei.
描述了電磁學(xué)和另外兩個(gè)鮮為人知的作用力在原子核層面的相互聯(lián)系。
Relativity theory is the theory of big things. It describes the force of gravity.
而相對(duì)論是研究宏觀世界的理論，描述了引力的原理。
Since inflation is the way the universe made the transition from small to big, it is a good place to look for the missing link.
既然膨脹理論是宇宙從微觀到宏觀的過(guò)渡，這就為尋找兩者之間尚未發(fā)現(xiàn)的聯(lián)系提供了絕佳的機(jī)會(huì)。
Not quite as simple as an apple and a persuasive serpent
這可比蛇誘夏娃吃禁果復(fù)雜多了
The gravitational waves detected by BICEP2 date from the beginning of the inflationary process and are thus a product of the small, quantum-scale version of the universe.
由BICEP2望遠(yuǎn)鏡發(fā)現(xiàn)的引力波產(chǎn)生于膨脹過(guò)程的初始，因此這是一個(gè)微小的、處于量子層面的宇宙的產(chǎn)物。
This means they are quantum phenomena,the first known manifestations of quantum gravity.
這就表明它們是量子現(xiàn)象，第一個(gè)已知存在的量子引力。
That confirms the link between relativity and quantum theory.
也證明了相對(duì)論和量子論之間的關(guān)聯(lián)性。
It also gives physicists investigating the link something real to play with in their search for how that link actually works.
同時(shí)這也讓物理學(xué)家們有了進(jìn)一步研究這種關(guān)聯(lián)性的真實(shí)基礎(chǔ)。
A little caution is called for. It can be dangerous, in science, to put too much faith in a single set of observations.
但值得警惕的是，在科學(xué)世界里，把過(guò)多的注意集中到某個(gè)單一的觀察結(jié)果上是很危險(xiǎn)的。
The gravity,wave signals that BICEP2 has found,slight fluctuations in the intensity of the cosmic microwave background, an all,pervading bath of radiation that preserves some features of the very early universe,are but a faded palimpsest.
BICEP2天文臺(tái)發(fā)現(xiàn)了引力波信號(hào)，在宇宙微波背景強(qiáng)度下的一些輕微波動(dòng)，但這個(gè)信號(hào)已經(jīng)很大程度上被其他信號(hào)覆蓋。
They have been overwritten time and again by other signals, and these have had to be scraped away to make the gravitational waves visible.
而為了得到最終的引力波，需要把那些干擾信號(hào)逐個(gè)去除。
Confirmation using other instruments is needed.
因此，我們需要其他設(shè)備對(duì)引力波的存在性進(jìn)行再次核實(shí)。
Other teams of scientists will now try to find similar evidence; new researchers will get excited about the field.
其他科學(xué)家們將會(huì)致力于尋找相似的證據(jù)；也歡迎新研究者在此領(lǐng)域前赴后繼。
This is welcome. The merging of particle physics and cosmology is one of the great intellectual achievements of the past 50 years.
新興的粒子物理學(xué)和宇宙學(xué)是過(guò)去50年以來(lái)最大的科學(xué)進(jìn)步之一。
And in showing that the deepest truths of the material universe are to be found by gazing out into the deepest, earliest recesses of space, it feeds not just the intellect, but the spirit.
凝望最遙遠(yuǎn)、最原始的空間深處。那里埋藏著關(guān)于宇宙物質(zhì)的最終解答，對(duì)這個(gè)答案的求索不僅是人類關(guān)于知識(shí)的渴望，更是靈魂的滿足。
