了解宇宙是如何运行的（2010）

How the Universe Works S05E08

Part 3 April 18, 2021, 7:47 p.m.

At the very beginning of the universe,
正它让这一切开始的原因
that's what got everything started.
普通物质只是顺道搭了个便车
And regular matter was just along for the ride.
暗物质解释了宇宙中
Dark matter explains how the first stars
第一批恒星是如何爆发的
in the universe burst into life.
但当天文学家回望早期宇宙时
But when astronomers gaze back to the early universe,
他们发现这些恒星并不孤单存在的
they see these stars weren't alone.
他们的周围都存在着一个怪物
They lived alongside monsters,
超大质量黑洞
supermassive black holes.
一个真正的谜团就是
A real puzzle is that we see some of these
为什么我们在极早期宇宙能看到了一些超大质量黑洞
supermassive black holes in the very early universe.
从大爆♥炸♥到我们研究这些天体存在的时期
So there really wasn't enough time between the big bang
真的没有足够的时间
and when we're studying these things for them
让它们长到这么大
to grow to such large sizes.
超大质量黑洞
Supermassive black holes are the heavyweights
是早期宇宙的重量级黑洞
of the early universe.
有些黑洞的质量甚至是
Some weigh in at 12 billion times
太阳的120亿倍
the mass of our sun.
它们是如何这样迅速地
How they grew so gigantic so quickly has been one
变得如此巨大的
of the biggest mysteries in cosmology
一直是宇宙学中最大的谜团之一
until perhaps now.
一些科学家认为
Some scientists believe the beginnings of these early
这些早期黑洞的起源
black holes could have been formed
可能是由一个叫做暗星的奇怪巨星形成的
by a strange superstar called a dark star.
暗星将是宇宙中
Dark stars would be the very first stars
最早形成的恒星
to form in the universe.
它们形成于宇宙诞生
So they form when the universe
仅仅大约2亿年前的时间
is about 200 million years old.
这些都是古老的天体
And these are very early objects.
所以它们是由普通物质构成的
So they are made of ordinary matter.
主要成份是氢气和氦气
They're made of hydrogen and helium.
但它们是由暗物质驱动的
But they're powered by dark matter.
凯瑟琳·弗里斯认为
Katherine freese believes
当这些巨大的早期恒星
that as these giant early stars
在早期宇宙中形成时
formed in the early universe,
它们巨大的引力
their enormous gravity
将暗物质粒子拖入核心
dragged dark matter particles into their cores.
这些粒子相互撞击
These particles smashed into each other,
释放出能量
releasing bursts of energy.
每当他们相遇
Whenever they encounter each other,
他们就会湮灭并变成别的东西
they annihilate and turn into something else.
这意味着释放了大量的热量和能量
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动力
And it's that energy that could power stars.
布洛克：所以有可能在一些恒星中
Bullock: So it's possible that in some stars,
它们的内部反应
their internal reactions
实际上是由暗物质驱动的
are actually being powered by dark matter.
事实上，暗物质的湮灭提供了能量
Effectively, dark matter annihilation
并保持这些恒星的发光
is providing energy to keep these stars lit up.
这是相当了不起的
It's quite remarkable because
因为你只需要
you only need one part
万分之一的暗物质
in 10,000 of dark matter
就可以为一颗巨大的恒星提供能量
to power an entire giant star.
暗物质湮灭
The energy from dark matter annihilations
产生的能量
allowed the dark stars
使暗星变得超级巨大
to become super large.
这些早期的物体真的很奇怪
These early objects are really strange.
他们温度很低
They're very cool.
但体型真的，真的很大
And they're really, really big.
他们的尺寸
They're ... the size of these things
是地球到太阳
is 10 times the size
距离的10倍
the distance between the sun and the earth.
所以它们真的，真的很大
So they're really, really big puffy,
浮肿、凉爽，并且是由暗物质湮灭提供动力
cool and powered by dark matter annihilation.
但是当内部的暗物质燃料耗尽时
But when their dark matter fuel ran out,
这些巨大的恒星已经没有任何东西可以支撑它们了
these huge stars had nothing left to hold them up.
没有任何东西可以支撑这个又大又浮肿的天体
There's nothing to sustain this big, puffy object.
于是就会崩塌
It's gonna collapse.
如果它足够大，就会直接坍塌成一个黑洞
If it's big enough, you collapse directly to a black hole.
因为这颗坍塌的恒星非常巨大
Because the collapsing star was so huge,
所以它形成的新黑洞也是超大质量的
the new black hole it formed was also super massive.
弗里斯：如果有暗星存在
Freese: If dark stars exist,
那么超大质量黑洞就可能诞生
then black holes could be born big.
所以因为暗物质提供了能量
So because of dark matter, you could start with very,
所以早期宇宙就会产生非常巨大的黑洞
very massive black holes early in the universe.
但那只是因为
But that's only because you have the dark matter
有暗物质来驱动这些早期的恒星
to power these early stars.
暗物质可能是帮助我们
Dark matter may have helped form
形成宇宙、恒星和黑洞的
the basic units of our universe,
基本单位
stars and black holes.
但是，这个神秘的木偶大♥师♥的触角
But did the reach of this mysterious puppet master
是否延伸得更远呢？
stretch even further?
在星系和星系团的分布图中
There are patterns in the distribution
有一些模式
of galaxies and galaxy clusters
单靠正常物质是无法解释的
that normal matter alone can't explain.
我们的主星，太阳
Our home star, the sun,
只是组成我们银河系的
is just one of 200 billion stars
2000亿颗恒星之一
that make up our galaxy.
但是这辽阔的星系最初是如何形成的？
But how did this vast collection of stars first form?
如果用想象中的暗物质护目镜观察银河系
View the milky way with imaginary dark matter goggles.
你会发现一个线索
And you'll find a clue:
围绕银河系的暗物质光环
A halo of dark matter surrounding the galaxy.
暗物质光环帮助星系形成
A dark matter halo helps the galaxy form
它能提供引力
simply by providing gravity
让物质聚集起来进化成我们的星系
to pull things together, catalyzing it.
这可能就是我们的银河系形成的原因
And that may have allowed our galaxy to form.
引力来自这个巨大的结构
The gravity from this huge construct
吸引普通物质聚焦在中间
brought regular matter in to form
并最终形成我们的银河系
the milky way in the middle.
天文学家
Astronomers used to think
过去认为星系
the distribution of galaxies
在宇宙中的分布是随机的
throughout the universe was random.
但最近的观测
But recent observations
发现了一些非同寻常的东西
have discovered something extraordinary:
相互连接的星系的墙壁
Walls of interlinked galaxies
它们在太空中
that stretch through space for millions
伸展了数百万光年
and millions of light-years.
在过去的几十年中
One of the most amazing discoveries
最令人惊奇的发现之一是
of the last few decades
星系形成了这些巨大的超结构
is that galaxies form these vast superstructures
它们实际上横跨了已知的宇宙
that actually span the known universe.
这道长城由星系组成的细丝
The great wall is a filament of galaxies
绵延数亿光年形成
that stretches hundreds of millions of light-years.
为了了解这些巨大的星系结构
To understand how these vast
是如何形成的
galactic structures formed,
天文学家使用了
astronomers use telescopes like the
像阿塔卡马大型毫米波阵列（简称Alma）
atacama large millimeter array,
这样的望远镜
or Alma for short.
这是一个由66个射电望远镜组成的阵列
It's an array of 66 radio telescopes
它的威力可以追溯到
and so powerful it can peer back billions of years
最早星系结构
to the formation
形成的数十亿年前
of the earliest galactic structures.
现在，阿尔玛实际上
Now, Alma can actually look back
可以回顾宇宙的历史
into the history of the universe
看到这些巨大的新生星系
and see similar structures being formed
正在形成类似的结构
by these giant baby galaxies,
有点像原始长城
sort of a proto great wall.
阿尔玛让我们窥见
Alma gives us a snapshot
早期宇宙是如何进化的
of how the adolescent universe evolved.
它发现，随着宇宙的膨胀
It shows us that as the universe expanded,
新生的星系与相邻居的星系排列起来
the newborn galaxies aligned with their neighbors.
就好像膨胀的宇宙