評(píng)論
打印
That's a challenge for 21st-century science. If my research group had a logo, it would be this picture here: an ouroboros,
那將是21世紀(jì)科學(xué)面臨的挑戰(zhàn)。如果我的研究小組要選擇個(gè)徽標(biāo)的話，將會(huì)是這張圖片：一條首尾相連的環(huán)形銜尾蛇，
where you see the micro-world on the left -- the world of the quantum -- and on the right the large-scale universe of planets, stars and galaxies.
在左邊是微觀世界 - 即量子世界 - 而在右邊是宏觀的宇宙包括行星，恒星和星系。
We know our universes are united though -- links between left and right. The everyday world is determined by atoms, how they stick together to make molecules.
我們知道宇宙萬物是聯(lián)系在一體的 - 這張圖片的左邊連結(jié)到右邊。尋常世界決定于原子，即它們是如何結(jié)合在一起組成分子。
Stars are fueled by how the nuclei in those atoms react together.
恒星利用原子核的相互作用來提供燃料。
And, as we've learned in the last few years, galaxies are held together by the gravitational pull of so-called dark matter:
我們近年來已了解到星系也是由所謂的暗物質(zhì)的引力作用連系在一起。
particles in huge swarms, far smaller even than atomic nuclei.
暗物質(zhì)粒子比原子核要小很多，且大量密集。
But we'd like to know the synthesis symbolized at the very top. The micro-world of the quantum is understood.
但是我們還需了解圖上部的結(jié)合體（即蛇吞尾）的象征意義。微觀的量子世界已被了解。
On the right hand side, gravity holds sway. Einstein explained that. But the unfinished business for 21st-century science is to link together cosmos
右邊的宏觀世界中引力支配一切，愛因斯坦也已給出了解答。而二十一世紀(jì)科學(xué)尚需完成的任務(wù)是將宏觀宇宙
and micro-world with a unified theory -- symbolized, as it were, gastronomically at the top of that picture.
和微觀量子世界用一個(gè)統(tǒng)一理論聯(lián)系起來 - 正如在圖的上部以美食的角度所象征的那樣。
And until we have that synthesis, we won't be able to understand the very beginning of our universe
在我們找到那樣的統(tǒng)一理論之前，我們無法理解宇宙最開端時(shí)的情況，
because when our universe was itself the size of an atom, quantum effects could shake everything.
因?yàn)楫?dāng)宇宙的尺度同一個(gè)原子大小相仿時(shí)，量子效應(yīng)可以摧毀一切。
And so we need a theory that unifies the very large and the very small, which we don't yet have.
所以我們需要一個(gè)將極大和極小統(tǒng)一起來的理論，目前我們還沒能找到。
One idea, incidentally -- and I had this hazard sign to say I'm going to speculate from now on -- is that our Big Bang was not the only one.
順便提一句，有一個(gè)想法是 - 我用這個(gè)警示標(biāo)識(shí)表明我在此開始進(jìn)行的是推測(cè) - 即我們最初的大爆炸并非唯一的一個(gè)。
One idea is that our three-dimensional universe may be embedded in a high-dimensional space, just as you can imagine on these sheets of paper.
我們的三維宇宙，可能是嵌入在一個(gè)更高維度的空間里，就像你可以想象一下這幾張紙。
You can imagine ants on one of them thinking it's a two-dimensional universe, not being aware of another population of ants on the other.
其中一張紙上的螞蟻認(rèn)為紙就是它們的二維宇宙，而它無從知曉其它紙張（二維宇宙）上的別的螞蟻。
So there could be another universe just a millimeter away from ours,
所以可能存在另一個(gè)宇宙，距離我們的只有一毫米遠(yuǎn)，但我們卻不能感知它，
but we're not aware of it because that millimeter is measured in some fourth spatial dimension, and we're imprisoned in our three.
因?yàn)槟且缓撩拙嚯x是某個(gè)四維空間維度的尺寸，而我們被禁錮在我們的三維空間里。
And so we believe that there may be a lot more to physical reality than what we've normally called our universe -- the aftermath of our Big Bang.
所以我們相信應(yīng)該有更多的物理事實(shí)存在于我們通常稱為宇宙的地方之外。而宇宙是大爆炸的產(chǎn)物。
And here's another picture. Bottom right depicts our universe, which on the horizon is not beyond that, but even that is just one bubble, as it were, in some vaster reality.
這里有另一張圖片。在其右下角描述的是我們的宇宙，也就是遠(yuǎn)端眾多泡沫中的一個(gè)，但那也不過是更廣闊現(xiàn)實(shí)中的一個(gè)泡沫。
Many people suspect that just as we've gone from believing in one solar system to zillions of solar systems, one galaxy to many galaxies,
很多人猜想隨著我們開始相信不止有一個(gè)太陽系而是有無數(shù)的其他類太陽系，不止有一個(gè)銀河系而是有很多其他星系，
we have to go to many Big Bangs from one Big Bang, perhaps these many Big Bangs displaying an immense variety of properties.
我們甚至應(yīng)該考慮不止有一個(gè)大爆炸而是許多大爆炸。或許這許多大爆炸展示出極其多樣的物理特性。
