剧集 | 与摩根·弗里曼一起穿越虫洞(2010) | 导航列表
科学家们已经花费了40年寻找
Scientists have been hunting it for 40 years,
解开宇宙奥秘的钥匙
the key that will unlock the secrets of the universe.
如今他们已经发现了
And now they've found it.
希格斯玻色子真的能告诉我们
Can the Higgs boson really tell us
一切是如何诞生的?
how all creation came into being?
我们的存在是否应归于
Do we owe our existence to
一些难以捉摸而又强大的东西?
something so elusive yet so powerful?
是否存在上帝粒子?
Is there a God particle?
空间,时间,生命本身
Space, time, life itself.
宇宙之谜,尽在穿越虫洞
The secrets of the cosmos lie through the wormhole.
与摩根·弗里曼一起穿越虫洞(S04E01)
Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman (S04E01)
是否存在上帝粒子?
Is There a God Particle?
我们如何存在于宇宙之中呢?
How did we get to be here in this universe?
科学家们称宇宙诞生于一场纯粹能量的爆♥炸♥
Scientists say our universe began as a burst of pure energy,
以某种方式,能量转变为物质
but somehow, that energy transformed itself into matter
最终形成了恒星、行星
which eventually became stars, planets,
以及所有组成你和我的元素
and the stuff that makes up you and me.
我们的宇宙
Instead of being
没有变成瞬时的飞掠过的火球
a fleeting fireball gone in an instant,
而是胶着了数万亿年
our universe has stuck around for billions of years.
物理学家们很久之前就怀疑
Physicists have long suspected there must be
一定存在某些看不见的力场散布于整个宇宙
some invisible force field spread across the universe
这种神秘的力量将能量变为实体物质
mysteriously turning energy into solid matter.
现在,科学家们最终证明了
Now scientists have at last proven
理论中的这种力场是真实存在的
that this theoretical force field is real.
他们从这个力场中获得了
They have produced from it
一个亚原子粒子——希格斯玻色子
a subatomic particle known as the Higgs boson,
就是所谓的上帝粒子
the so-called God particle.
上帝粒子能够解释我们存在的原因么?
Can it explain the mystery of our creation?
你见过玩陀螺吗?
Have you ever watched a spinning top?
还是孩子的时候,我记得自己
As a kid, I remember being mesmerized
喜欢看画着多种图案的陀螺旋转
watching the painted shapes spinning on mine.
那些图案变得朦胧模糊
The pattern became a ghostly blur.
似乎我可以把手指穿过这些图案
Looked like I could stick my finger right through it.
可一旦转动停止,图案又变成原来那样清晰
But once it stopped moving, the pattern became solid again.
物质的纯粹属性长久以来困惑着物理学家
The solid nature of matter has long puzzled physicists.
过去四十年里
Over the last four decades,
他们一直在考虑物质的存在是否
they have wondered if matter is solid
是由于被称作上帝粒子的
because of the Higgs boson,
希格斯玻色子造成的
the so-called God particle.
你知道人们到底想把它称作什么
You know what they really wanted to call it, right?
人们想称之为上帝粒子
They wanted to call it the God particle...
这可能不能在电视台上播
You probably can't put that on TV though.
为了寻找它,我们花费了大量的
...given the amount of time and money we've spent
时间和金钱
looking for this thing.
可我们都没能发现
And we've missed it.
“哦该死,这个粒子到底在哪儿?”
"Oh damn. Where is that particle?"
丹·霍普和帕特里克·福克斯是理论物理学家
Dan Hooper and Patrick Fox are theoretical physicists
就职于费米国家加速器实验室
at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
就在芝加哥城外
just outside of Chicago.
和上千名物理学家一样,他们在职业生涯中
Like thousands of physicists, they have spent their careers
等待着希格斯玻色子会在
waiting for the Higgs boson to reveal itself
高速粒子对撞实验中现形
in high-speed particle-collision experiments.
我们已经寻找了很久了
It's something we've been looking for for a long time.
如果没有上帝粒子
The universe would be very different
宇宙会变得与预想大不相同
if it weren't for the God particle.
实际上,物理学家们认为有那么短暂的一瞬间
Physicists believe, in fact, that there was a brief moment
宇宙中并不存在上帝粒子
when the universe lived without the God particle.
在时间出现的时候
It was at the beginning of time itself,
这比出现物理学家和这个游乐场还要早
long before there were physicists and arcades.
把这个漂浮曲棍球桌想象成宇宙
Imagine this air hockey table is the entire universe.
在它诞生时的大爆♥炸♥中
When it was born in the big bang,
物理学家们认为这个时候
physicists think there were only
只有纯能量无质量的粒子
massless particles of pure energy.
那么这时你能看到的是
So, what you can see here is that
所有的粒子以相同的速度运动
all the particles are moving around at the same speed,
用这个速度就是光速
at the speed of light.
它们在整个宇宙中基本没有质量
They're all essentially massless in the whole universe.
但是宇宙并没有以这种状态持续很久
But the universe did not remain that way for very long.
就在几分之一秒后
After only a fraction of a second,
有些东西变了
something changed.
就像有人扳了控制杆
Almost like someone pulled a lever
使许多粒子慢慢停下来
that made many of the particles grind to a halt.
某一点时,希格斯场打开了
At some point, the Higgs field turned on,
这就使得一些粒子获得了质量
and that made some of the particles acquire a mass,
同时意味着它们不再以光速运动
which meant they stopped traveling at the speed of light.
光子,以黄色表示的
The photons, the yellow ones,
继续以光速运动
are zipping around at the speed of light,
而红色和绿色的表示得到了质量
whereas the red and the green have acquired a mass
由于希格斯机制而导致
thanks to the Higgs mechanism
运动速度变缓
and travel more slowly.
物理学家们认为刚刚在大爆♥炸♥之后
Physicists believe that right after the Big Bang,
宇宙在冷却的过程中,希格斯场开始发挥作用了
the universe began to cool, and the Higgs field turned on.
一些粒子开始和希格斯场相互作用
Some particles began to interact with the field
来获得质量
and acquired mass.
另一些粒子则保持了无质量的纯能量状态
Other particles remained massless bundles of energy.
几十年里
In the decades for which
科学家们一直在撞碎粒子
scientists have been smashing together particles
来探究亚原子世界
to probe the subatomic world,
他们已经发现了两种基本类型的粒子
they have found two basic types of particles.
一种是费米子
There are fermions,
一组携带有质量的粒子
a group of massive particles that carry matter,
和玻色子
and there are bosons,
携带能量的无质量粒子
massless particles that carry force.
没有希格斯场的存在
Without the existence of the Higgs,
所有的粒子都会是无质量的
all particles would be massless.
那么如果没有希格斯场
So, if there was no Higgs field,
你会有一些其他的力的载体
you would have had these other force carriers.
它们也是无质量的
They would have been massless,
因此,就像光子
and therefore, like the particles of light,
它们都会以光速运动
they would move at the speed of light.
没有这些质量,就绝对不可能出现
And without these masses, you can never have
各种原子或化学等之类的我们在宇宙中发现的
atoms or chemistry or any of the interesting stuff
有趣的东西
we find in our universe.
组成你和我的物质也不会
The things that you and I are made up of
结合到一起
wouldn't be able to clump and coalesce
并减速
and slow down.
没有任何结构,也就没有生命。是的
No structure, no life. Right.
一切都会很无聊。对
Boredom. Yep.
多亏了希格斯场
Thanks to the Higgs,
我们的宇宙才能以现在的形式存在足够久
our universe hung around long enough
以形成像人类这样的具有复杂结构的生命形式
for complex structures likes human life to form.
但是为什么创造物质的希格斯场会启动呢?
But why did the matter-creating Higgs field turn on?
包括丹和帕特里克在内的许多科学家
Many scientists, including Dan and Patrick,
认为是大爆♥炸♥纯粹的暴♥力♥
think the sheer violence of the Big Bang
造成了希格斯场的运作
jostled the field into action.
那么到现在,我一直在
So, up until now, I've been
用我的手控制希格斯机制的开或关
turning the Higgs mechanism on and off by hand.
但是当然,在早期的宇宙
But of course, in the early universe,
并不是以这种方式进行的
it didn't happen that way.
就像水在你冷冻它的时候
And just like water freezes all on its own
自己就会结冰
when you cool it,
希格斯机制也会在宇宙冷却时
the Higgs mechanism will turn on all by itself
自动启动
as the universe cools.
这根台球杆假设代表了
So, this pool cue is supposed to represent
希格斯机制自身的不稳定
how unstable the Higgs mechanism was all by itself.
就像你看到的这样
And as you can see...
就这样。…倒下去了
Voilà. ...It just falls over.
科学家认为希格斯场
Scientists think the Higgs field,
即是使能量转变成
the force that turned a ball of energy
剧集 | 与摩根·弗里曼一起穿越虫洞(2010) | 导航列表