了解宇宙是如何运行的（2010）

How the Universe Works S06E05

Part 3 Dec. 22, 2021, 7:22 p.m.

Look a little closer, and you'll see evidence of extreme violence
巨大的伤疤从它们的中心
and huge scars extending from their centers
延伸到数万光年之外
out tens of thousands of light-years.
是什么造成了这样的破坏？
What could've caused such devastation？
这是星系团 hydra a(海德拉希腊神话中的九头蛇)
This is galaxy cluster hydra a.
这就是疤痕，但用多种波长观察后
Here are the scars, but viewing it in multiple wavelengths
就能发现罪魁祸首
reveals the culprit.
两个巨大的能量喷流
Two colossal jets of energy
从星系核中喷发出来
blasting out from the galactic core,
从一个类星体的中心喷射出来
shooting out from the heart of a quasar.
它们穿过星系，进入太空
They tear through the galaxy and out into space,
在周围的气体中产生空洞
creating voids in the surrounding gas.
喷射出的能量是惊人的
The amount of energy in these jets is staggering,
所到之处灰飞烟灭、魂飞魄散
soul crushing, mind destroying.
想想这些类星体喷流中包含了多少能量
Think about how much energy is wrapped up in these quasar jets.
有些物质的质量可以是太阳的很多很多倍
Something can take many, many times the mass of the sun,
把它加速到接近光速的速度
accelerate it to speeds near the speed of light
然后把它抛出去，穿越几十万光年
and throw it out across hundreds of thousands of light-years.
这些喷流似乎是从
These jets seem to launch out
类星体的核心发射出来的
from the quasar's core,
粒子增压、扭曲成密集的能量束
supercharged particles twisted into tight beams of energy,
以每小时数百万英里的速度移♥动♥
moving at millions of miles per hour,
并加热到数万亿度
heated to trillions of degrees.
普通的类星体就已经非常强大了
Regular quasars are seriously powerful,
但是有喷射流的类星体，它们的威力就爆表了
but quasars with jets, those are off the charts.
将数十亿
You're taking the power
或数万亿颗恒星的能量
of billions or trillions of stars
集中成狭窄的喷射流
and focusing them into narrow jets,
基本上就像死亡射线一样穿越宇宙
which basically march across the universe like death rays.
如果你离它太近，并且就在它所经的路线上
If you're too close to this thing, and you're in its way,
是的，你不会呆在那里太久了
yeah, you're not going to be in its way for long.
受影响的
It's not just the galaxy
不仅仅是星系和周围的气体
and the surrounding gas that suffers.
这些喷流的威力比死星还要大
(没错，就是星战中的那个超强武器)
These jets coming out are more powerful than the death star.
它们不仅会摧毁经过它们的行星
They would destroy not just a planet going through their path
还会摧毁恒星，甚至整个太阳系
but, like, stars, whole solar systems.
这就是星系 3c 321 中发生的事情
This is exactly what's going on in system 3c 321.
在可见光下，我们看到的只是一对星系
Viewed in visible light, all we see is a pair of galaxies.
但在多个波长中，我们看到较大的星系
But in multiple wavelengths, we see the larger galaxy
发射出巨大的死亡射线
firing out a huge death ray,
并穿透了较小的邻居星系进入太空
ripping through its smaller neighbor and out into space.
想象一下在喷射的方向上
Imagine being in the direction of a jet.
如果有架飞机朝你飞来，那就完了
If a jet's coming at you, it's over.
你会受到深深的伤害
You're in for a deep world of hurt.
行星会被摧毁
Planets would be destroyed.
恒星就会爆♥炸♥
Stars would explode.
这些喷射物在太空中飞行的距离令人难以置信
These jets travel incredible distances through space.
已知最大的射流长度约为140万秒差距
So the largest know jet is about 1.4 megaparsecs in length.
1百万秒差距大约是3百万光年
And a megaparsec is about 3 million light-years.
所以，从一端到另一端大约有
So, we're talking almost 5 million light-years
500万光年
from end to end.
最终，这个喷流
Eventually, the jets do stop
在撞击星系间的介质
when they slam into the intergalactic medium,
即环绕星系的气体薄膜时停止
the thin film of gas that surrounds galaxies.
它可以喷射几十万光年
It can go hundreds of thousands of light-years,
其间撞击星系间的介质并使其燃烧起来
striking the intergalactic medium and setting it ablaze.
撞击会发出巨大的冲击波
The impact sends out massive shock waves
就像 Pictor a (皮克托) 星系一样
like in galaxy Pictor a.
它们形成了巨大而蓬松的云层
They form these huge, puffy clouds.
它们看起来像棉签
They look like sort of cotton swabs.
有一个狭窄的喷射流，两端都是又大又肿的东西
You had a narrow jet with these big puffy things at either end.
但似乎有喷流的类星体
But it seems that quasars with jets
是一种非常罕见的物种
are a very rare species.
只有10%的类星体有，没有人真正知道原因
Only 10 percent have them, and no one really knows why.
我们可以清楚地看到从类星体中
The huge jets coming out of quasars are things
喷射出来的巨大气流
we can see clear across the universe.
令人惊奇的是，我们甚至都不知道它们是
The amazing thing is we don't even really understand
如何被创造出来的
how they're created.
这是一个非常复杂的过程
It's such a complicated process
很难理清这里发生的天体物理学
that it's hard to untangle the astrophysics going on here.
所以我们认为喷流的形成
So we think that the formation of jets
来自于吸积盘
arises from the accretion disk,
或者说这个
or this spinning disk of gas
旋转的气体盘接近黑洞的视界
that's spiraling close to the event horizon of the black hole.
这是我们最好的理论
This is our best theory.
气体落入超大质量黑洞
Gas falls towards the supermassive black hole.
它移♥动♥得越来越快，越来越热
It moves faster and faster, getting hotter and hotter.
当你把气体加热到极限温度时，它就会变成等离子体
When you heat gas to extreme temperatures, it becomes plasma,
充满了电磁的带电粒子
full of electromagnetically charged particles.
我们认为，在超大质量黑洞周围的区域
We think, in the regions around supermassive black holes,
有快速移♥动♥的带电粒子
you have quickly moving charged particles.
于是产生了磁场
This creates magnetic fields.
当这些粒子在黑洞周围旋转时
As the particles swirl around the black hole,
它们就会形成一个强大的磁场
they build up a powerful magnetic field.
磁场强度逐渐增强，包围着黑洞
The field builds up intensity and surrounds the black hole.
这种强磁场
That strong magnetic field
会将自己包裹在黑洞周围
can wrap itself around the black hole,
吸积盘中的任何带电粒子
and any charged particles in the accretion disk
都会沿着这些磁场的路径运动
will follow the paths of those magnetic fields.
有磁场的物体
And where there is a body with a magnetic field,
就有磁极
there are magnetic poles,
这是物体可以逃逸的地方
and that's where things can escape.
物质纠缠在一起，螺旋上升
It gets wound around, spiraled up,
并被推进喷射流中
and shoved up into a jet.
这个过程中的压强非常高
The pressures in that discuss are incredibly high,
这些磁场非常强
and these magnetic fields are incredibly strong,
它们被旋转的黑洞紧紧缠绕着
and they're wound up tightly by the spinning black hole,
最后得到的是平直的
and what you end up with are jets that are collimated
非常强大的喷流
and incredibly powerful.
喷射物从黑洞的两极
The jet blasts out from the poles of the black hole
以99%的光速喷射出来
at 99 percent the speed of light.
这些类星体是巨大的发电机
These quasars are big generators.
它们将引力能转化为磁能
They convert gravitational energy into magnetic energy,
而磁能在喷射流的发射过程中
and that magnetic energy gets converted into kinetic energy
转化为动能
in the launching of these jets.
它们携带着巨大的能量
They carry so much energy,
在穿越宇宙的过程中能被清晰地探测到
they can be detected clear across the universe.
类星体继续困扰着天文学家
Quasars continue to confuse astronomers.
现在，他们给我们带来了另一个问题
Now, they're presenting us with another problem.
类星体的形成需要数百万年的时间
Quasars should take millions of years to fire up.
但最近，我们检测到一个在宇宙心跳中
But recently, we've detected one that switched on
启动的类星体
in a cosmic heartbeat.
到目前为止，我们已经发现了超过20万颗类星体
So far, we've discovered over 200,000 quasars.
2016年6月，我们又发现了另一个
And in June of 2016, we discovered another.
但这次不一样
But this one is different.
它在500天内就点燃了……
It ignited in just 500 days...
用宇宙学的术语来说，只是一眨眼的功夫
In cosmological terms, just a blink of an eye.
这太奇怪了
That's incredibly weird,
因为记住我们在这里所说的
because remember what we're talking about here.
我们所说的是星系大小的
We're talking about the consumption
气体消耗
of galaxy-sized quantities of gas.
怎么会这么快呢？
How could that be fast？
这是一个非常快速的过程
That's a very rapid process.
通常，当我们想到天文学的时候
Usually, when we think of astronomy,
我们所想到的天文上的时间尺度是很长的
we think of astronomically long time scales
一般我们都无法看到事情的实时发生
where we don't get to see things happen in real time.
所以当我们看到宇宙中这些不可思议的引擎
So when we see these incredible engines in our universe
通过在几个月或几年的时间里
changing their complete nature
启动并改变它们的完整本质时
by turning on over the course of a few months or a few years,
这有点可怕
that's a little bit frightening.