了解宇宙是如何运行的（2010）

How the Universe Works S05E03

Part 6 April 18, 2021, 7:46 p.m.

当工程师们打开
When engineers turned on
激光干涉仪引力波天文台时
the laser interferometer gravitational-wave observatory,
(简称ligo)
or ligo for short,
他们立即捕捉到了
they immediately picked up
微弱的引力波信♥号♥♥
the faint signal of gravitational waves.
引力波是由太空中的
Gravitational waves are created
巨大爆♥炸♥产生的
by huge explosions in space.
要制♥造♥它们，你需要一种几乎难以想象的能量事件
To make them, you need an almost unimaginably energetic event,
一种非常非常大的东西……
something really, really big...
……比如合并黑洞
...something like merging black holes.
布洛克: 黑洞合并是宇宙中发生的
Bullock: A black hole merger is the most violent,
最剧烈
the most energetic thing
能量最大的事件
that happens in the universe, period.
想象一下13亿年前的景象
Picture the scene, 1.3 billion years ago.
两个黑洞相互环绕，跳着死亡之舞
Two black holes circle each other in a dance of death.
较大的黑洞将较小的黑洞向内拉
The larger black hole pulls the smaller one inwards
直到它们被锁在一起形成螺旋状
until they're locked together in a spiral.
这个轨道正在非常非常缓慢地衰减
Very, very slowly, that orbit is decaying.
它们越来越近，越来越近
They're getting closer and closer and closer.
然后它们会合并成一个巨大的黑洞
And then they will merge into one giant black hole,
这真的是宇宙中最戏剧性的事件之一
truly one of the most dramatic events in the universe.
最后，它们相撞
Finally, they collide
形成自大爆♥炸♥以来最大的爆♥炸♥之一
in one of the largest bangs since the big bang.
我很希望能够安全地
I would have loved to have been able
近距离观察
to safely view the collision
这两个黑洞的碰撞
of these two black holes up close.
想象一下，这两个黑洞
Imagine these two black holes
相互旋转
as they spiral in toward each other,
越来越快，越来越快
going faster and faster and faster and faster.
然后，突然之间，当你面前的空间看起来什么都没有
And then, suddenly, where there appears to be nothing
或者只是扭曲的时候
or just distortions in space in front of you,
突然之间，能量爆发了
suddenly, there is this enormous burst of energy.
你周围的一切都在下雨
And everything just rains around you.
通过测量引力波的频率
By measuring the frequency of the gravitational waves,
我们可以计算出产生引力波的物体的大小
we can calculate the size of the objects causing them.
这两个质量分别为
When those two black holes,
29个太阳质量
weighing 29 solar masses
和36个太阳质量的黑洞相撞时
and 36 solar masses, collided,
产生了一个大约两倍大小的黑洞
they created a black hole around twice the size.
在某些方面，它非常优雅和简单
In some ways, it's very elegant and simple.
假设有两个黑洞你把它们卷在一起
You take two black holes. You spiral them in together.
最终形成一个巨大的黑洞
And you end up with one big black hole.
这一事件表明，黑洞几乎可以通过同类相食的方式
The event showed that black holes can double their mass
使其质量翻倍
through cannibalism...Almost.
最后的黑洞比它各部分的总和还要小
The final black hole was less than the sum of its parts.
少了3个太阳质量
There were 3 solar masses missing.
这听起来可能并不多
That may not sound like a lot.
让我们来想象一下
So let's put it in context.
我们的太阳
Our sun is burning
每秒燃烧1000亿颗氢弹
about 100 billion hydrogen bombs every second.
在它100亿年的生命周期中
And over its 10-billion-year lifetime,
把不到太阳质量的1%
it will convert less than maybe 1% of the mass
转化为能量
of the sun to energy.
在2/10秒内
In 2/10 of a second,
3倍太阳质量的物质
3 times the mass of the sun in matter
在碰撞中转化为能量
got converted to energy in that collision.
这是36×10的24次方×10的24次方瓦特
It was 36 septillion yottawatts.
这是什么概念？非常多的能量
What does that mean? A lot of freaking energy.
这2/10秒的能量
That's more energy in that 2/10 of a second
比可见宇宙中所有恒星
than is emitted by all the stars
在同一时间释放的能量都要多
in the visible universe in the same time.
在第一次运行中，ligo 探测到两次碰撞
In its first run, ligo detected two collisions.
这表明，黑洞自相残杀
This suggests that cannibal black holes
是相对常见的
are relatively common
每一次盛宴都会形成一个更大的黑洞
and that each feast builds a larger black hole.
但到目前为止，这些合并
But so far, the largest black hole
产生的最大黑洞的质量
these mergers have produced
是62个太阳的质量
is 62 solar masses,
与我们发现的最大的超大质量黑洞相差甚远
not close to the largest supermassives we've found.
很难想象，在138亿年的时间里
It's hard to imagine, in 13.8 billion years,
30个太阳质量的黑洞会发生足够多的碰撞
that there'd be enough collisions of 30-solar-mass
从而形成一个10亿太阳质量的黑洞
black holes to build up to form a billion-solar-mass black hole.
也就是1亿次碰撞
That's 100 million collisions.
所以也许小黑洞互相吞噬
So maybe small black holes eating each other
并不是解决问题的办法
isn't the solution.
也许超大质量黑洞
Maybe supermassive black holes
正在吞噬彼此
are eating each other.
如果是这样的话，我们银河系中心的
If so, could the supermassive black hole
超大质量黑洞会在菜单上吗？
at the heart of our own galaxy be on the menu?
我们已经发现了超大质量的黑洞
We've found supermassive black holes
大到无法解释
so large, they defy explanation.
它们太大了
They're too big to have grown
不可能仅仅靠吃周围的物质来生长
by simply eating the matter around them.
它们不能像普通黑洞那样形成
They can't form the same way that regular black holes do.
一定有什么别的原因
There must be something else that happens that lets them grow
让它们变得如此巨大
to such enormous mass.
太大了，不可能从暗恒星中生长出来
Too large to have grown from dark stars
也不可能从普通的黑洞中生长出来
and too big to have grown from regular black holes
那么只有相互吞噬了
simply eating each other.
在我们对超大质量黑洞的理解中
Merging black holes almost certainly play a role
合并黑洞几乎肯定扮演着重要角色
in our understanding of supermassive black holes.
我们认为超大质量的黑洞本身也在合并
We think that supermassive black holes themselves also merge
并且已经在宇宙的过程中有规律地合并
and have merged regularly over the course of the universe.
现在，这种合并活动本身
Now, whether this merging activity itself
是否足以让它们变得如此庞大
is enough to make them that big,
还没有定论
the jury is still out on that.
现在，一种新发现的星系类型
Now a newly discovered type of galaxy
可能提供了答案
may provide an answer.
它被称为 w2246-0526
It's called w2246-0526.
我们看不到它
And we can't see it.
但我们可以探测到它散发的热量
But we can detect the heat it gives off.
这个星系是一种
This galaxy is an example
被称为“热狗”的罕见天体
of a rare class of objects called hot dogs.
对外来星系的一个有趣的称呼
One of the funnier terms for an exotic type of galaxy
是热狗星系
is a hot dog galaxy.
不，这不是什么美味的香肠小吃
And no, this is not some delicious sausage snack.
事实上，它的意思是“炽热的，被尘埃笼罩的星系”
In fact, it means "hot, dust-obscured galaxy."
它被称为“被遮蔽的星系”
It's called obscured because it's shrouded
因为它被如此多的尘埃和气体包裹着，唯一的光
in so much dust and gas, the only light that escapes
是以热的形式逃逸出来的红外线
is infrared in the form of heat.
这些热量一定是从什么地方来的
All this heat must be coming from somewhere.
所以在核心，有一个大锅
So in the core, there is a cauldron,
一个沸腾的超大质量黑洞
a seething supermassive black hole,
我们甚至无法想象这样的黑洞
the likes of which we can't even imagine.
在我们所知道的所有超大质量黑洞中
of all the supermassive black holes we know of,
那些隐藏在这些热狗星系中的黑洞
the ones that are obscured in these hot dog galaxies
可能是最贪婪的
may be the ones that are the most ravenous,
它们的质量是太阳的
consuming many millions of times
数百万倍
the mass of the sun.
科学家们推测，“热狗”
Scientists theorize that hot dogs
可能是食人的
could be the offspring
巨型黑洞的后代
of cannibal giant black holes.
当巨大的黑洞合并时
When the monstrous black holes merge,
它们拖着气体和尘埃一起
they drag gas and dust with them.
这就把更多的食物带到餐桌上
This brings more food to the table,
让新的黑洞大吃特吃
allowing the new black hole to gorge itself.
当这两个星系合并时
When you have these two galaxies merging,
它们就有了全新的食物
they have all-new food.
这是一个全新的餐盘
It's a brand-new dinner plate,
一个全新的食物自助餐
a brand-new buffet of food to eat.