了解宇宙是如何运行的（2010）

How the Universe Works S05E03

Part 5 April 18, 2021, 7:46 p.m.

重力和聚变
The delicate balance
之间的微妙平衡就会被打破
between gravity and fusion is broken.
如果引力胜出，恒星就会坍缩
Gravity wins out, and the star collapses.
但暗恒星也许有一种变通方法
But dark stars may have a work-around
让它们变得超大质量
that lets them become supermassive.
弗里斯:所以，它们是由普通物质构成的
Freese: So, they are made of ordinary matter.
它们虽然是由氢和氦组成的
They're made of hydrogen and helium.
但它们是由暗物质提供能量的
But they're powered by dark matter.
我们不知道暗物质是由什么构成的
We don't know what dark matter is made from.
但我们确实有关于它如何为恒星提供能量的理论
But we do have theories on how it might power a star.
弗里斯:我们对暗物质最好的想法之一
Freese: One of the best ideas we have for dark matter
就是暗物质是由大质量弱相互作用粒子
is that it's made of weakly interacting massive particles,
(简称VIMPs)组成的
or wimps for short.
所以，这些 VIMPs 本身就是反物质
So, these wimps are their own antimatter.
这意味着，当它们相遇时
And that means, whenever they encounter each other,
它们就会消失，变成别的东西
they annihilate and turn into something else.
这意味着释放了大量的热量，大量的能量
That means a lot of heat is released, a lot of energy.
正是这种能量可以为恒星提供能量
And it's that energy that could power stars.
大质量弱相互作用粒子的湮灭
The energy from the wimps' annihilations
产生的能量使恒星不会像普通恒星那样坍缩
keeps the star from collapsing like a normal star.
布洛克:所以，在一些恒星中
Bullock: So it's possible that, in some stars,
它们的内部反应
their internal reactions
实际上可能是由暗物质提供动力的
are actually being powered by dark matter.
如果是这样，那么你可以想象
If that's the case, then you could imagine situations
当它耗尽时
where, when that burns out,
会产生巨大质量的黑洞
you produce very massive black holes.
所以可能是暗物质
So it could be that dark matter,
暗物质的物理学
the physics of dark matter,
它们在宇宙中普遍存在并在创造黑洞的过程中
plays really important roles in creating black holes
扮演了非常重要的角色
and their prevalence in the universe.
暗物质的能量
The energy from the dark matter
使暗星变得巨大
allows the dark stars to grow huge.
它们刚形成的时候很小
When they first form, they're small.
它们的质量和太阳差不多
They're about the mass of the sun.
但因为它们太酷了
But because they're so cool,
它们不断积累物质
they keep accumulating matter
不断增长，不断增长
and growing, growing, growing.
其中一些的质量是太阳的一百万倍
And some of them will get to be a million times
亮度是太阳的十亿倍
as massive as the sun and a billion times as bright.
但这些巨人活不了多久
But these giants don't live for long.
最终，暗物质粒子
Eventually, the dark matter particles
会完全消灭彼此
wipe each other out completely.
也没有更多的燃料
And there is no more fuel
来阻止大量的普通物质的
to keep the massive amount of ordinary matter
坍塌
from collapsing.
就这样了
And then that's it.
没有东西能支撑这么大的浮肿物体
There's nothing to sustain this big, puffy object.
如果它足够大，你就会直接坍缩成黑洞
If it's big enough, you collapse directly to a black hole.
巨大的超大质量黑洞
A monster supermassive black hole.
布洛克: 想想暗物质的物理学
Bullock: It's really fun to think about the possibility
可能真的在为恒星提供能量
that the physics of dark matter
这真的很有趣
is actually helping to power stars.
如果是这样的话
If so, it would bring, you know,
它将为我们了解恒星及其演化
a whole new window into our understanding
打开一个全新的窗口
of stars and their evolution.
目前，暗星还只是理论上的
At the moment, dark stars are just theoretical.
但当强大的詹姆斯·韦伯望远镜
But when the powerful James webb telescope
2018年上线时
(该记录片是2010年拍摄的，该望远镜2018年未发射
目前最新消息可能于2021年3月30日进行发射)
comes online in 2018,
我们可能会第一次看到它
we may get our first glimpse.
弗雷斯:我们要进行一次观察，寻找这些东西
Freese: We're gonna do an observing run and look for these things.
所以我们很兴奋
And so we're very excited.
如果你发现了一种全新的恒星类型
If you would find an entirely new type of star,
那将是巨大的发现
that would be huge.
在凯蒂·弗里斯寻找暗恒星的同时
While Katie freese looks for dark stars,
另一个团队正在研究另一个激进的想法
another team is investigating another radical idea
它为超大质量黑洞
that offers new insight
如何变得如此巨大提供了新的见解
into how supermassive black holes grow so huge.
它们探测到宇宙中
They detect the faint echoes
剧烈事件的微弱回声
of a violent event from across the universe,
一次非同寻常的碰撞的残余
the remnants of an extraordinary collision,
一次能量极高的事件
a supremely energetic event
揭示了黑洞是个“食人族”
that reveals black holes are cannibals.
我们的宇宙充满了
Our universe is filled with enormous
无法解释的超大质量黑洞
supermassive black holes that defy explanation.
超大质量黑洞是宇宙中存在的一种物质
Supermassive black holes are one of the things
当你用物理学的方法
in the universe that, when you run the physics,
以及用数学的方法研究它们是如何演化时
when you run the math of how did they evolve,
你会发现它们不应该存在
they really shouldn't be there.
这仍然是一个深奥的谜
It's still a profound mystery.
宇宙存在的时间还不够长
The universe hasn't been around long enough
常规黑洞还没有
for regular black holes
吞噬足够多的物质以获得超大质量
to eat enough matter to get supermassive.
那么它们是如何变得这么大的呢？
So how did they get so big?
最合乎逻辑的答案是
The most logical answer
大黑洞诞生时就很大
is that large black holes are born large,
大约是10亿到20亿太阳质量
around 1 to 2 billion solar masses.
但它仍然比最大的
But that's still over 10 times smaller
超大质量黑洞小十倍以上
than the largest supermassive black holes out there.
布洛克: 考虑到时间尺度，这似乎不合情理
Bullock: Given the time scales, it doesn't seem to add up.
我们需要一些其他的方法
We need some other way
来制♥造♥这些超大质量黑洞
to make these supermassive black holes.
问题是，那是什么呢？
And the question is, what is that?
线索来自一个巨大的，孤立的星系
A clue came from a large, isolated galaxy
距离我们2亿光年
200 million light-years away
在宇宙中一个安静的地方
in a quiet part of the universe.
是一个质量相当于170亿颗太阳的
nestling alone was a supermassive black hole
超大质量黑洞像一个孤独的“鸟巢”
with a mass of 17 billion suns.
通常，这样的怪物
Normally, such monsters
会出现在有很多星系
are found in dense regions of space
和恒星的稠密区域
with lots of galaxies and lots of stars.
这个黑洞和它周围的环境完全不匹配
This black holes doesn't match its surroundings at all.
这有点像开车到沙漠中♥央♥
It's kind of like driving to the middle of a desert
然后穿过帝国大厦
and coming across the empire state building.
现在，帝国大厦位于市中心
Now, the empire state building belongs in the middle of a city.
这么大的黑洞
And a black hole this big
应该属于一个丰富的星系团
belongs in a rich cluster of galaxies.
这是天文学家第一次
This is the first time astronomers have found
在宇宙中
such a giant object
如此空旷的区域发现如此巨大的物体
lurking in such a relatively empty area of the universe.
所以你要问的问题是
So you got to ask the question,
如果周围没有其他东西，那么是如何
if there's nothing else around, how exactly do you grow
产生一个170亿太阳质量的黑洞的？
a 17-billion-solar-mass black hole?
一个可能的答案是噩梦
One possible answer is the stuff of nightmares.
也许这个黑洞的故事
Maybe the story of this black hole
实际上比我们想象的更可怕
is actually a little more scary than we thought.
也许它独自一人
Maybe it's all alone
是因为它吃掉了所有的邻居
because it ate all of its neighbors.
也许它吃掉的不仅仅是星系
Maybe it was eating more than galaxies.
也许它在吃自己的同类
Maybe it was eating its own kind.
黑洞是杂食动物
The thing about black holes is they're omnivores.
他们会吃任何东西
They'll eat anything.
任何靠近它们的东西，它们都会狼吞虎咽
Anything that gets close them, they'll gobble up.
黑洞能够变得如此巨大的一种方式是
One way black holes can grow so large
吞噬其他黑洞
is by eating other black holes.
所以在某种意义上，他们可能是食人族
So in a sense, they may be cannibals.
当然食人黑洞只是理论上的
Cannibal black holes were just theoretical.
我们从没见过他们互相吃
We'd never actually seen them eat each other.
然后，科学家们探测到了
Then scientists detected the faint echoes
时空中真实波纹的微弱回声
of actual ripples in space-time.