粒子狂热（2013）

that it hasn't yet been solved,
同时还没有被解决过的问题
but the time for solving it has come now?
而现在就是解决这种问题的时候了
So people have been waiting for this experiment,
人们为了等待这个大型强子对撞机的实验
the LHC, for a very long time.
已经等了太久了
Nothing like it has ever happened.
类似的事情从来没有发生过
All the superlatives are justified.
这个领域里所有的大腕都来了
This is the case where the hype is...
这也是人们一直在宣传的
the hype is approximately accurate.
他们宣传的是
To get, you know, 3,000 people
能让大概三千多人
to work on an experiment together,
齐心协力进行这个实验
whose goal is to understand
而这个实验的目标是去了解
what's going on at distances a thousand times smaller
比质子还要小上一千多倍
than the proton...
的世界里在发生什么
this is... this is a really extraordinary testament
这是...这是一个意义重大的实验
to what... to some of the highest ideals
对于那些...那些作为人类
we can have as human beings.
所能拥有的最高的理想的证明
It's...
这真的太...
Nima and I got our PhDs around the same time.
尼玛和我差不多同一时间拿到博士学位的
He's a couple years ahead of me.
但他的成就远超过我
And Nima is the star of our generation,
他是我们这一代人中的明星
and he's the guy we all followed and looked up to
也是我们大家都尊敬的榜样
and tried to keep up with
我们都想努力赶上他的成就
and tried to outpace if we could.
如果可以的话 我们甚至想超过他
Since the mid '70s,
从70年代中期开始
we've had an amazingly successful theory of nature
我们就提出了一个很成功的理论
that we call the Standard Model of particle physics.
我们称之为粒子物理学标准模型
But sitting in the heart of the theory is a sickness,
但处在这个理论的中心让人感到很难受
very, very glaring conceptual problems
因为这个理论是个非常概念化的问题
that infected this fantastic understanding.
已经影响到了我们对于它的理解
Why is the universe big?
为什么宇宙这么大？
Why is gravity so much weaker than all the other forces?
为什么重力比其他的力都要弱很多？
The kinds of answers that this theory gives to these questions
这个理论对于上面这些问题的回答
seems so patently absurd
显得特别荒谬
that we think that we're missing something very, very big.
荒谬到使我们认为我们一直忽略了一些非常重要的东西
And on top of all of that,
在所有这些事情之上
there is one prediction of this theory...
人们对于这个理论还有个猜测
absolutely crucial for it to even make
这个猜测重要到如果没有它
internal theoretical sense...
这个理论就根本不成立
and this is the famous Higgs particle.
这就是著名的希格斯粒子
The Higgs, or something like it, must show up.
这个希格斯粒子 或者其他类似的粒子必须被发现
If it doesn't show up,
如果它们没有被发现
there's something truly, deeply wrong,
那我们一定是犯了什么错误
very, very, deeply wrong
非常非常严重的错误
with the way we think about physics.
基于我们理解物理学的方式
There are strong reasons
我们有足够的理由相信
to think that some of these questions
上面那些问题的答案
will find answers at the LHC.
我们都能通过大型强子对撞机找到
There's been no shortage of ideas
我们从来不缺少对于
for what they might be,
实验结果会是什么样的想法
but this is really this generation of people's...
但是这真的将会是我们这些人
my generation of people's... only shot.
我们这代人...唯一的机会了
Ah, so the boss comes.
啊 老大来了
I first came to CERN in 1987.
我是1987年来到欧洲粒子物理研究所的
I was a very young undergraduate student,
我那时还非常年轻 大学都没有毕业
and I remember the first time I entered the site.
我还记得我第一次踏进这个研究所的时候
I was a bit scared by the corridors
被这里的主楼的走廊
in the CERN main site,
给吓坏了
so I was almost lost in those corridors.
我差一点在这些走廊里迷了路
For me, it has been a wonderful experience,
对我来说 那是一个特别美好的体验
because I had the chance of being involved
因为我有机会能够
right from the beginning
从一开始就参与进来
and to see, really, an experiment from starting and...
能看着一个实验从零开始
from zero, essentially.
一点点做到现在
I've seen two inventors place out of the ten,
我去过不少这种地方
and we probably have seen...
而我几乎从来没有
I don't think I can describe right now
我真的无法形容首次启动测试
the excitement about first beam.
的时候我们有多激动
I mean, the entire control room
整个控制室里面就像是
is like a group of six-year-olds
充满了一群六岁大的小孩
whose birthday is next week, you know,
而他们下个星期就要过生日了
and there's going to be cake,
在生日会上
and there's going to be presents,
有蛋糕 有礼物
and all their friends are going to be there,
他们的好朋友都会来参加
and they just, you know...
他们都...你懂的
they just know it's going to be great.
他们知道那是件好事
You know, they're kind of scattered,
“他们都是分散着的
and I can't imagine, 'cause they're not that big, right?
我真的无法想象 因为他们并没有那么大 对吧？”
I've been a postdoc here for a year,
我以博士后的身份在这里工作了一年
so I'm a relative newcomer.
所以我还只是个新人
But my timing is sort of perfect.
但我来的时机很完美
I mean, to be on the ground floor
当数据在你面前
when the data first comes...
第一次显示出来的时候
it's awesome.
那种感觉简直太棒了
That means I have 5,000 emails.
“那意味着我有5000封邮件”
There's a huge difference
理论物理学家和实验物理学家
between theorists and experimentalists.
之间有很大的区别
I mean, when I started college,
当我刚上大学的时候
I absolutely did not want to do physics.
我从没想过要涉足物理领域
Physics meant to me everything that was boring:
对我来说物理学的一切都特别无聊
textbooks, theories, proofs.
课本 理论 证明
But then I discovered the experimental side,
但当我开始接触到物理实验的时候
and the experimental side is the hands-on aspect.
实验归根结底还是需要动手的
It's about taking a theory,
关键是要利用已有的抽象理论
which is abstract, and making it real.
通过实验来使它们立体起来
How do you build an experiment
如何构建一个实验
to discover something that the theory predicts?
来探索理论所预测的结果
And that aspect is what I love.
我深深的爱上物理学的这一面
Of course, when constructing the whole thing,
当然 在搭建整个设备的时候
we several times thought,
有时候我们也会想
"What if the whole thing just does not work?"
“万一整个事情都不按我们预想的那样发展该怎么办？”
I really believe now this will work,
但现在我相信这次是一定会成功的
but the next thing is, will we ever find something?
而下一个问题是 我们能否发现什么
So maybe we will just find nothing new.
也许我们并不会发现任何新的东西
It would be a catastrophe for physics.
而那对于物理学界来说将是灾难性的
We would, somehow...
那样的话 从某种意义上来说
none of the open questions which we have at the moment
所有这些需要我们去解答的问题
would've been answered.
都永远不会有答案
So the LHC is basically the most fundamental of experiments.
这个大型强子对撞机其实是一个很基本的实验
It's like what any child would design as an experiment.
每个人在小时候都会设计的实验
You take two things, and you smash them together.
你有两样东西 然后把他们两个撞在一起
And you get a lot of stuff that comes out of that collision,
这样你就得到了很多新的东西
and you try to understand that stuff.
然后你再试图去理解这些新的东西
Now, in this case,
就目前来说
what we're smashing together is tiny protons,
我们要做的是让小小的质子相撞
which are inside the center of every atom.
这些质子存在于所有原子的中心
And in order to get them going as fast as possible,
为了让它们在对撞时的速度尽可能地大
we have to build this huge 17-mile ring,
我们建造了一条27公里长的环状管道
and we run those protons around the ring multiple times
然后使那些质子沿着圆环多次旋转
to build up speed, almost to the speed of light,
使其加速至接近光速
and then we collide two beams going in opposite directions
然后我们使两束以相反方向运动的质子束在4个点相撞
at four points,
在这4个点分别做4个不同的实验
and at those four points are four different experiments:
超环面仪器实验(ATLAS) 底夸克探测器实验(LHCb)
ATLAS, LHCb, CMS, and ALICE.
紧凑渺子线圈实验(CMS) 以及大型离子对撞器实验(ALICE)
Now, I work on the ATLAS experiment.
我目前负责超环面仪器实验
And ATLAS is like a huge seven-story camera
超环面仪器就像是一个七层楼高的相机
that takes a snapshot of every single collision,
它可以拍摄到每一次单独碰撞的快照
and that's billions of collisions.
这些碰撞总共有数十亿次之多
And the hope is that we'll see the very famous Higgs particle.
希望能够看到传说中的希格斯粒子
But every time we've turned on the new accelerator
每次我们在更高的能量下
at a higher energy,
开启新的加速器