了解宇宙是如何运行的（2010）

How the Universe Works S05E01

Part 1 April 18, 2021, 7:46 p.m.

和我们一起踏上一段通向无限的旅程
Join us on a journey to infinity and beyond,
来到超越物理法则崩溃的地方
to a place where the rules of physics collapse.
想象一下一个被数万亿冰岩包围的地方
Imagine a place surrounded by trillions of icy rocks...
解开地球第一个海洋的秘密
Unlock the secrets of earth's first oceans,
我们就能解开外星生命的秘密
and we'll unlock the secrets of alien life.
以及帮助恒星运行的磁场
And the magnetic fields that help stars ignite,
磁场塑造了整个星系
they shape entire galaxies.
And what's going on in its outer reaches determines
在磁场的外♥围♥发生的事情
whether we live or die.
决定了我们的生死
Captions paid for by discovery communications
最惊人发现
暴胀
宇宙的第一秒才刚刚开始
The first second of the universe has barely begun.
而最短的时间单位——“普朗克时间”
And the shortest possible units of time, planck times,
正以百万分之一的速度飞过
are flying by in their millionths.
此时的宇宙是一个超热的辐射球
The universe is a super-hot ball of radiation,
比原子小几十亿倍
billions of times smaller than an atom,
密度超乎想象
and dense beyond imagination.
引力已经开始塑造宇宙的未来
Gravity has begun shaping the future of the cosmos.
但随着宇宙膨胀，温度开始下降
But as the universe expands, temperature drops.
另一股力量到达现场，那是一股强大的力量
Another force arrives on the scene, the strong force.
如果没有强大的核心力
Without the strong nuclear force,
原子核本身
the nuclei of the atoms themselves
就会全部解体
would all disintegrate.
有三种力量
Three forces ...
引力，弱核力和强核力
gravity, the strong force, and the fractured super force ...
主宰着宇宙，并且正在迈向下一个里程碑事件
rule the universe as it hurdles towards its next milestone,
一个使今天的宇宙中充满星系的
an event that sets out the blueprint for the galaxies
蓝图设定的里程碑事件
that fill the cosmos today.
我们之所以认为这是里程碑事件
We think this event happened
是因为它解释了一个长♥期♥未解之谜
because it explains a longstanding mystery.
我们在宇宙中所看到的每一个地方
Everywhere we've looked in the universe,
数十亿个星系均匀地分布在每个方向上
its billions of galaxies are spread evenly,
并且数量也相同
the same number in every direction.
没人能解释为什么
Nobody could explain why.
宇宙中的所有这些部分
All of these parts of the universe must have at one point
一定在某一点上彼此接触过
been in contact with each other.
这有点像
It's kind of like having two people
两个生活在不同国家的人
who live on opposite sides of a country
同时起床
getting up at the same time,
吃同样的早餐，穿同样的衣服
eating the same breakfast, dressing the same way,
即使他们彼此不说话
even when they don't talk to each other.
他们的过去一定有共同点把他们联♥系♥在一起
There must be something common in their past that links them.
这个问题需要得到解决
This problem needed a solution.
1979年，一位名叫艾伦·古思的年轻宇宙学家提出了一个理论
And in 1979, a young cosmologist named Alan guth proposed one.
他称之为暴胀理论
He called it inflation.
这非常令人兴奋
This was very exciting.
我突然意识到这可能是
I suddenly realized that this might be the key
宇宙中一个非常重要的秘密的钥匙
to a very important secret of the universe.
但与此同时，我也非常紧张
But at the same time, I was, of course, very nervous
因为这一切都是新的
because it was all new.
我不知道这是否正确
And I was shaky about whether or not it was right.
古思推测，婴儿时期的宇宙
Guth speculated that the infant universe
经历了一次惊人的膨胀
went through a phenomenal growth spurt.
宇宙膨胀是宇宙发展史上的一个瞬间
Cosmic inflation was a moment in the history,
在宇宙发展的早期
the very early history, of the universe
膨胀突然加速
when the expansion suddenly accelerated.
它在最短的时间内变得巨大
It got huge for the briefest moments of time.
在大爆♥炸♥后仅仅1000万次普朗克爆♥炸♥之后
Just 10 million planck times after the big bang,
一小部分空间
a tiny volume of space suddenly starts to expand
突然开始比以前更迅速地膨胀
much more quickly than before.
这种膨胀是如此之快
This inflation is so rapid that it turns chaos into order,
以至于它把混沌变成了一种秩序
spreading the constituents of our universe
把我们宇宙的各个组成部分均匀地分布在整个空间中
evenly throughout space
并把它们固定在其中的位置
and fixing their positions within it.
当宇宙开始冷却下来的时候
As the universe cooled down in those earliest moments,
它的体积增加了10的90次方倍
it increased in volume by a factor of 10 to the 90th,
而时间只经历了十亿分之一秒
in a millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a second.
它就像是一粒沙子
It's like a grain of sand
一下子膨胀到比太阳还大，比光速还快
swelling to larger than the sun faster than the speed of light.
我们违反爱因斯坦定律了吗？
Well, have we violated Einstein's laws?
没有什么速度可以比光速更快
Nothing can go faster than the speed of light.
这正是关于大爆♥炸♥理论的
And here is one of the real subtle points
一个真正的微妙之处
about the big bang.
空间可以膨胀得如此之大，以至于两个物体的移♥动♥速度
Space can expand so much that two objects appear to move apart
似乎比光速还要快
faster than the speed of light.
但其实物体并有没有动
But they're not moving.
只是它们之间的空间越来越大
It's the space in between them that's growing.
古思大胆的暴胀理论想法
Guth's audacious idea, the inflationary universe,
可以让我们把膨胀的宇宙极限地往回推
could push the limit of our understanding back
推回到第一秒的第一个瞬间
to the very first moments of the very first second.
但我们怎么能测试这个理论呢？
But how could we ever test it?
我们怎样才能窥视造物的诞生？
How could we peer into the birth of creation?
电视的无信♥号♥♥图像有一个线索
TV static holds a clue.
这个屏幕上1%的光点
1% of the static on this screen
是来自大爆♥炸♥的光
comes from light from the big bang.
196♥4♥年，天文学家阿诺·彭齐亚斯和罗伯特·威尔逊
In 196♥4♥, astronomers arno penzias and Robert Wilson
正在收听来自太空的无线电♥信♥♥号♥♥
were listening to radio signals from space.
但在每个方向
But in every direction,
他们都能听到背景的嗡嗡声
they were picking up a background hum.
他们被嗡嗡声弄糊涂了，怀疑是谁干的
Puzzled by the hum, they suspected they knew the culprit
于是把天线里的鸽子屎都扫了一遍
and swept the entire receiver free of pigeon droppings,
但是没有用
but to no avail.
其实彭齐亚斯和威尔逊偶然的发现
What penzias and Wilson had stumbled upon
是大爆♥炸♥产生的火球余辉
was the afterglow of the fireball
随着宇宙膨胀
created by the big bang.
它冷却了下来
As the universe expanded, it cooled.
几十万年后
After a few hundred thousand years,
它只是由质子和电子在四处飞行
it was just protons and electrons flying around.
但在某个时刻
But at some point, the universe cooled enough
宇宙冷却到了足够的程度
that when an electron and proton got together
当一个电子和一个质子聚集在宇宙各处时
all over the universe, essentially all at once,
基本上整个宇宙都变得透明了
the universe became transparent.
卡库：想象一下突然升起的大雾
Kaku: Think of a gigantic fog that suddenly lifts.
在大雾消散之前
Before the fog lifts,
你只能看到你前面几英尺的地方
you can only see a few feet in front of you.
突然间一切都清楚了
Then suddenly everything becomes clear.
这就是大爆♥炸♥38万年后发生的事情
That's what happened 380,000 years after the big bang.
从那一刻起
Ever since that moment,
在大爆♥炸♥后的38万年里
380,000 years after the big bang,
这束光一直不间断地穿越太空
this light has traveled uninterrupted through space.
科学家称之为宇宙微波背景
Scientists call it the cosmic microwave background.
如果你例举一些
If you were to write down a handful
有史以来最伟大的科学发现
of the greatest scientific discoveries of all time,
其中之一可能就是DNA的发现
one of them might be the discovery of DNA.
而另一个可能
Another one might be
就是宇宙微波背景的发现
the discovery of a cosmic microwave background.
这就是这个发现的意义
That's how big this discovery was.
我们曾经相信创造一颗星星很容易
We once believed creating a star was easy.
取一团巨大的气体
Take a huge cloud of gas,
加入一些重力
当重力将气体
压成一个热的等离子球时
to a hot ball of plasma.
温度和压力上升，直到引爆聚变火花
Temperatures and pressures rise until fusion sparks,
恒星诞生了
and a star is born.
现在科学家认为仅靠重力是不够的
Now scientists think gravity alone is not enough.
要建造一颗恒星，你还需要磁力
To construct a star, you also need magnetism.
形成恒星的主要动力是引力
The primary mover when you're forming a star is gravity.
物质在中心凝结形成恒星
The material condenses in the center to form a star,
当恒星形成时
and as that star forms there's material swirling around it,
周围的物质被它的引力吸引
attracted to that central mass by its gravity,
但这里有个问题
but there's a problem.