了解宇宙是如何运行的（2010）

How the Universe Works S09E10

Part 2 March 16, 2022, 8:56 a.m.

a laser beam and is split
into two paths.
通常，两束光线的长度是一样的
Normally, the lengths of
the two beams are the same.
当引力波撞击光束时，这种情况
That changes when
gravitational waves
就会改变
hit the beams.
当引力波通过时
When a gravitational wave
passes through,
它改变了光沿着这些臂传播的距离
it changes the distance that
light travels along these arms,
所以一条臂实际上变长了，而另一条臂
so one arm effectively gets
longer, and the other one
变短了
gets shorter.
这两束光的长度变化很小
The length of those two beams
varies just ever so slightly,
但LIGO中非常灵敏的仪器能够检测到这一点
and the very sensitive apparatus
in LIGO is able to pick that up.
利用这种超灵敏的激光系统
With this ultra-sensitive
laser system,
LIGO可以探测到比原子直径的
LIGO picks up distortions in
spacetime, narrower than
百万分之一还窄的时空畸变
one millionth of the diameter
of an atom.
这是一个壮举
Just that feat,
仅仅是我们能够建造一个
just the fact that we were
able to build
探测引力波的探测器这一事实
a detector to detect
gravitational waves
就令人难以置信
is just mind-boggling.
突然间，我们听到了
All of a sudden now,
we were listening
宇宙最微弱的声音
to the faintest whispers
of the universe.
2015年，LIGO捕捉到一个
In 2015, LIGO picked up
a whisper that had
向地球移♥动♥了有十亿年的信♥号♥♥
been traveling towards Earth
for over a billion years.
它的来源？两个碰撞的恒星黑洞
Its source? Two colliding
stellar black holes.
观察两个黑洞螺旋进入并合并——
Watching two black holes
spiral in and merge --
这不是我们可以用光学望远镜
That's not something
we can do using optical
或X射线望远镜或类似的东西能做的事情
telescopes or X-ray telescopes
or anything like that.
但有了LIGO，我们就可以探测到这种现象
But with LIGO, we could
actually detect that event.
[爆♥炸♥]
[explosion blasts]
现在，科学家能够精确地
Now, scientists can paint
描绘出看不见的物体
accurate pictures of
invisible objects.
你可以说你看到的是黑洞
You can tell you're looking
at black holes.
可以得到它们的质量，可以得到它们的距离
You can get their masses,
you can get their distance.
这些波包含了大量的信息
There's a phenomenal amount of
information in that wave.
这两个碰撞的黑洞
The colliding black holes are
是LIGO迄今为止探测到的质量最大的
the most massive LIGO has
ever detected.
一个是太阳质量的66倍
One is 66 times
the mass of our sun,
另一个是太阳质量的85倍
the other, 85 times
the mass of our sun.
普莱特:当两个黑洞盘旋而进入时
PLAIT: As two black holes
are spiraling in,
它们的运动速度越来越快
they are moving faster
and faster
然后它们会越来越近
as they get closer and closer.
这意味着它们
That means that
the gravitational waves
发出的引力波的频率越来越高
they're emitting have
a higher and higher frequency.
所以随着时间的推移，音高越来越高
So as time goes on,
the pitch gets higher.
所以它会……[曲线向上]喔噗！
So it goes...
[increasing pitch] ooop!
[曲线向上]喔噗！
[increasing pitch] Ooop!
[曲线向上]匙噗！
[increasing pitch] Zhhhrp!
[音高不断增加并重复]
[repeating noise
with increasing pitch]
当它们最终合并时，就会形成一个巨兽
When they finally merge,
they create a giant.
庞泽:通过分♥析♥这些数据
PONTZEN: By analyzing that data,
我们有可能确定由这两个原始黑洞
it's possible to establish
that the new black hole from
合并而成的新黑洞的质量
the merger of these two original
black holes weighs as much as
大约是我们太阳质量的140倍
something like 140 times
the mass of our sun.
引力波探测的重要性
It's really difficult
to overstate
再怎么强调也不为过
the importance of
gravitational wave detection.
这就像增加了一种全新的感觉——
It's like adding on
an entirely new sense --
突然间，有了一种全新的方式
All of a sudden,
there's a brand-new way
来探索宇宙的其余部分
to explore the rest
of the universe.
看不见的宇宙碰撞
Invisible cosmic
collisions are just
只是引力波向我们揭示了
the beginning of what
gravitational wave
天文学秘密的开端
astronomy can reveal to us.
现在，科学家们正在利用引力波
Now, scientists are using
gravitational waves
重新审视其他长♥期♥存在的谜团
to revisit other
long-standing mysteries,
比如是什么导致了宇宙中
like what causes
the brightest explosions
最明亮的爆♥炸♥？
in the cosmos?
这不是常见的“车祸”
This is not
an everyday car crash.
这将是在我们的宇宙中
This is the most dramatic
event that
看到的最戏剧性的事件
you're ever gonna see
in our universe.
在宇宙中
Across the universe,
一些奇怪的光爆发让天文学家困惑不已
strange bursts of light
puzzle astronomers.
在不到一秒钟的时间里
For just a fraction of a second,
它们发出的光比太阳的亮度
they shine more than
a trillion times brighter
高出一万亿倍，然后就消失了
than the sun --
Then, they vanish.
这些短暂的闪光被称为
These brief flashes of light
are known
伽马射线暴，简称GRBs
as gamma-ray bursts
or GRBs for short,
它们之所以如此神秘，是因为
and they're such a mystery,
because they are
它们的能量惊人，但我们不知道是什么导致了它们
insanely energetic, and we
don't know what causes them.
[爆♥炸♥]
[explosion blasts]
几十年来，这些短伽马射线爆发
For decades,
these short gamma-ray bursts
一直是个谜
have been an enigma.
无论多么疯狂的理论都无法解释
No explanation was off limits,
no matter how wild.
是超新星吗？
Is it a supernova?
是外星文明在打招呼吗？
Is it on alien civilization
saying hello?
你懂的，我们真的不知道
You know, we just don't know.
2017年8月，费米伽马射线望远镜
In August 2017,
the Fermi Gamma-ray Telescope
探测到另一个短伽马射线暴
detected another
short gamma-ray burst,
但这次与以往不同
but this one was different,
一个伽马射线暴在1.3亿光年之外爆发
So a gamma-ray burst went off
130 million light-years away,
它实际上在空间和时间上产生了一个涟漪
and it actually produced
a ripple in space and time
LIGO探测到了
that LIGO could detect.
引力波可能有助于最终揭示
Gravitational waves could help
是什么导致了
finally reveal what causes
宇宙中最明亮的爆♥炸♥之一
one of the brightest
explosions in the universe.
LIGOS 的数据表明，罪魁祸首
LIGOS data suggests
the culprit could be two
可能是两个巨大的物体盘旋而至
massive objects spiraling
towards each other
并相撞
and colliding.
但根据引力波数据
But based on the gravitational
wave data,