与摩根·弗里曼一起穿越虫洞（2010）

Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman S02E07

Part 5 April 19, 2021, 2:37 p.m.

是自然界的准确描述
as an accurate description of nature.
如果我立足于量子力学
If I am fundamentally quantum mechanical,
隐形传送就更加离不开量子力学了
teleportation better involve quantum mechanics.
我想说如果有别的方法
I would say if there is a different way
来传送物体的话
to teleport objects,
那么不管怎样就会有另一个理论
then, somehow, there's a different theory
而不是量子力学存在了
than quantum mechanics out there,
我们只是还不知道罢了
and we just don't know it yet.
我们仍然有很长的路要走在星际旅行
We are still a long way from traveling from star to star
如光束那般速度
as fast as a beam of light.
但若是我们自认为我们对光所理解的一切
But what if everything we thought we understood
实际上是错误的又当如何呢？
about light is actually wrong?
这位科学家将物理定律来了个彻底颠覆
This scientist is turning the laws of physics upside down.
如果他是对的
And if he's right,
爱因斯坦镇住宇宙的速度极限
the speed limit Einstein slapped on the Universe
有可能得改变了
might have to be changed.
我们生在一个有速度极限的宇宙间
We live in a Universe with a speed limit --
每小时6.7亿英里
670 million miles per hour.
对那就是爱因斯坦所说的
Well, that's what Albert Einstein said.
但要是爱因斯坦错了呢？
But what if Einstein was wrong?
约翰·韦伯搞大了
John Webb has big plans.
他想改写宇宙规律
He wants to rewrite the laws of the Universe.
一切始于条形码
And it all begins with bar codes.
好我们来到了超♥市♥
Right. So, we're in the supermarket.
我要买♥♥一些东西
I'm buying a few things.
这个生菜，举个例子——我们知道它是什么
This lettuce, for example -- we know what it is.
生菜上有大量信息
Has a lot of information on the lettuce.
包装上告诉我们，我们能看到那是什么
Tell us on the packet. We can see what it is.
但这里用此种式样来编码
But encoded in this pattern here
激光扫描所采集的
and picked up by the laser that's gonna scan it
是一组信息
is a set of information,
收银员扫描时激光束
and when the cashier scans it, the laser beam
会看到黑线之间的白色缝隙
will look at the white gaps between the black lines,
我们就看到了价格
and we get the price.
所以说有大量信息储存在条形码里
So there's a lot of information stored in the bar code.
约翰是新南威尔士大学的
John is an astrophysicist
天体物理学家
at the University of New South Wales.
他所研究的条形码不光是生菜包
The bar codes he studies are not on packages of lettuce,
而且还有遥远星系发出的光
but on light coming from distant galaxies.
如果你将这些星系发来的光线
If you split the light
分解成彩虹
coming from these galaxies into a rainbow,
你就会发现有某些颜色不见了
you'll discover that certain colors are missing.
这些黑色条纹叫做光谱线
Those dark bands, called spectral lines,
源自星际气体云的
are caused by the chemical elements
化学元素
in clouds of interstellar gas
吸收了某些频率的星光
absorbing certain frequencies of starlight.
你可以从光谱线里认识到大量的东西
You can learn a great deal from spectral lines.
根据它们的位置你可以认出
From their positions, you can identify elements
具有特定频率的元素
that have particular frequencies,
所以你能够看到有东西如氢氦
so you can see where things like hydrogen or helium
或其它元素出现在哪里
or other elements are present.
不过约翰意识到他的星光条形码
But John realized his starlight bar codes
能够告诉他的东西远重要于
could tell him about something much more important
恒星的成分是什么
than what stars were made of.
它能够让他窥测到
It could give him a glimpse
宇宙中最基本的常量之一
into one of the most fundamental constants of the Universe --
电磁力的强度
the strength of the electromagnetic force.
物理学中所有的力
In physics, every force
都有粒子携带它
has a particle that carries it.
电磁力的携带者是光即光子
Electromagnetic force is carried by light, or photons.
电磁力将原子结合在一起
The electromagnetic force keeps atoms glued together
是通过光子连续不断的交换
with a constant exchange of photons
从原子核弹跳到围绕其运行的电子
that bounce from the nucleus to its orbiting electrons.
当光穿越星际星云气体的原子时
When light passes through atoms of interstellar gas,
它能够干扰光子的这种交换
it can interfere with this exchange of photons
把电子敲出轨道
and knock an electron out of its orbit,
但惟有光恰好
but only if the light
具有合适的能量
has exactly the right amount of energy.
所缺失的光的条形码
The bar code of missing light
恰好告诉你电磁力的强度
tells you precisely how strong the electromagnetic force is.
过去十年左右的时间里
Over the last decade or so,
技术上有了惊人的变化
there's been an amazing change in technology.
人们现在测量遥远的星体
One can now measure the things in distant astronomical objects
其精准远超过地球上以往的测量
more precisely than ever been measured on Earth.
那为研究早期的宇宙
That provides a very strong motivation
提供了强大的动力
for studying the early Universe,
因为我们能够度量当时的环境
because we can measure what the conditions were like,
我们能够度量当时的物理学
we can measure what physics was like,
物理学定律
whether the laws of physics
在宇宙偏远地区是否就
there in very remote regions of the Universe
与其在地球上是一模一样的
are the same as they are on Earth.
那是相当惊人的
That's pretty amazing.
于是约翰开始搜索苍穹里的
So John began searching the heavens
数十亿光年之外的发光星云
for glowing clouds of gas billions of light-years away.
他利用夏威夷的凯克望远镜
He used the Keck Telescope in Hawaii
来观察北方星空
to look at the northern sky,
利用智利的大望远镜
and a Very Large Telescope in Chile
观察南方星空
which looks out on the southern sky.
他看到他的条形码后
And when he looked at his bar codes,
发现了完全出乎意料的东西
he discovered something totally unexpected.
这是气体云看上去的模样
This is what a cloud of gas would look like
如果这就是我们在地球上的实验室里所看到的话
if we were looking at it in the laboratory on Earth.
我们在南半球观察时
When we look in the southern hemisphere,
有些东西略有不同
something slightly different --
这条线移向了光谱的红色一端
this line has moved towards the red end of the spectrum,
这里的另一条线
and another line here
则移向了光谱的蓝色一端
has moved towards the blue end of the spectrum.
所以说光谱线的相对距离
So there's a change in the relative spacing
有一个变化
of the spectral lines.
南半球看上去稍有不同
It looks slightly different in the southern hemisphere.
如果你现在去北半球
If you now go to the northern hemisphere,
星空方向完全相反
the exact opposite direction on the sky,
此线现在发生了转换
this line has now shifted,
右边的到了左边
instead of to the right, to the left,
而此线从左边转变到了右边
and this line has shifted to the right instead of to the left.
所以形式现在看上去有所不同了
So the patterns now look different.
这有点像你在超♥市♥里喝醉了
It's a little bit as if you're in a supermarket drunk,
看那条形码形式发生了变化
looking at the bar code, and the pattern has changed.
这些变化的条形码
These shifting bar codes
其起因只能是一个情况
can only be caused by one thing --
似乎不可能的情况
something that seems impossible...
物理学的一个基本定律发生了变化
a change in one of the fundamental laws of physics.
我们第一次看到结果时
When we first saw the results,
很难接受它们是正确的
it was hard to accept that they were correct.
我们发现你在一个方向观察星空时
What we found is when you look in one direction on the sky,
电磁力的强度
the strength of the electromagnetic force
看上去随着与我们的距离的增加而减弱
appears to decrease with increasing distance from us,
当你在正好相反方向上观察星空时
and when you look in exactly the opposite direction on the sky,
情况恰恰相反
the converse is true.
电磁强度
The strength of electromagnetism
似乎随着你距离的加大而增强
seems to increase as you move to greater distance.
电磁力是
Electromagnetism is the force
由光来传播的力
that is transmitted by light.
因此若是电磁力的强度
So if the strength of electromagnetism
不是恒定的话
is not constant,
那就意味着光本身的属性发生了变化
it means that the properties of light itself are changing.
如果约翰·韦伯是正确的
If John Webb is right,
他就推♥翻♥了宇宙的一条基本规则
he's overturned one of the basic laws of the Universe.
一旦物理定律
Once the laws of physics
允许在那些方程式里有所变化
are allowed to vary in those equations,