与摩根·弗里曼一起穿越虫洞（2010）

Through The Wormhole With Morgan Freeman S02E04

Part 3 April 19, 2021, 2:35 p.m.

根据所有物理学里最著名的方程式
and according to the most famous equation in all physics,
你具有了能量你就具有了质量
if you have energy, you have mass.
那就给了蒂姆灵光闪现
That gave Tim a flash of inspiration
暗物质粒子实际上有可能是什么
about what dark-matter particles might actually be
以及它们有可能引导我们
and how they might lead us
发现第四维
to discovering the fourth dimension.
光子是光的粒子
So photons are particles of light,
但如果有另一个方向让光子可以穿行
but if there's another direction that photons can travel in,
我们实际上就可以得到暗物质粒子了
we can actually get a dark-matter particle
只要取上这些无质量的光子
by just taking these massless photons
让它们在额外的维度里转圈就行了
and letting them move around in a circle in the extra dimension.
若蒂姆是对的
If Tim's right,
暗物质实际上是出自光
dark matter is actually made of light,
无质量粒子呈现出具有质量
massless particles that appear to have mass
因为它们竞相围绕着
because they are racing around
微小的第四维度打圈它太小了我们看不到
a tiny fourth-dimensional loop that's too small for us to see.
但又是如何和何时
But how and when
让这些光子离开我们的三维世界
did these photons leave our three-dimensional world
进入到第四维度的呢？
and enter the fourth dimension?
有个办法让你可以试着明白这个
One way you can try to understand this
你不妨想想游乐场里有台旋转木马
is if you think about a round-about in a playground.
它旋转得飞快
It's spinning around really fast.
要登上旋转木马
Actually get onto the round-about,
小孩跑动的速度得等同于
a child is gonna have to run around it at the same speed
它旋转的速度
that it's spinning.
但要是其旋转快于孩子的跑动
But if it's spinning faster than the child can actually run,
那么就没有办法安全登录
then there's no way to get onto it safely.
我们今天所看到的多数粒子
Most particles we have today
恰恰就没有那么多的能量
just don't have that much energy.
不过在宇宙很年轻时
But when the Universe was very young,
它很小很热
it was very small and it was very hot.
当时粒子具有更多的能量
And at that time, particles had a lot more energy,
它们就真正能够进入到额外的维度里去
and they were able to actually get into the extra dimension.
就在大爆♥炸♥之后
Right after the Big Bang,
光的超高能粒子
super high-energy particles of light
可能就这样被炸进了第四维度
may have blasted their way into the fourth dimension.
它们从此被套牢在了那里
They have been stuck there ever since
今天呈现给我们的是暗物质
and appear to us today as dark matter.
不过蒂姆认为可能有办法让它们出来
But Tim thinks there might be a way for them to get out,
一旦它们这样做的话就有可能给我们带来证明
and when they do, they could bring us proof
第四维度确实存在
that the fourth dimension really exists.
如果有两个光子以相对方向围绕着
If two photons are moving around this curled-up dimension
这个卷曲的维度转动
in opposite directions,
它们就有可能偶尔相撞在一起
they might occasionally bump into one another.
它们相撞时就会湮灭迸发成
When they collide, they annihilate and burst out
一阵能量雨进入到我们的三维宇宙里来
as an intense shower of energy into our 3-D Universe.
尽管这一事件十分罕见
Even though this event is rare,
但第四维里的这些碰撞
these collisions in the fourth dimension
应该会产生警告讯号♥
should create a telltale signal.
点火升空
Engines start. Liftoff.
2008年美国航♥天♥局发射了费米太空望远镜
In 2008, NASA launched the Fermi Space Telescope,
探测器旨在截获强烈的辐射伽马射线
a probe designed to pick up the intense radiation, gamma rays,
产生自恒星爆♥炸♥那样的宇宙灾难
created by cosmic cataclysms like exploding stars.
但它也能侦测到暗物质光子彼此湮灭时
But it should also detect gamma rays from dark-matter photons
所发出的伽马射线
as they annihilate one another.
这样随着它收集数据我们就能了解到伽马射线空域
So, as it collects data, we understand the gamma-ray sky,
我们就着手寻找暗物质有可能存在的地方
and we start to look for where the dark matter might be.
费米已经发现了有大量的伽马射线
Fermi has already discovered a sea of gamma rays
源自我们银河系的中心
emanating from the center of our galaxy.
但是需要有更多的工作
But much more work is needed
来证明这个讯号♥是来自第四维
to prove this signal is coming from the fourth dimension.
如此明显我希望明天我们就能宣布胜利
So obviously, I hope that tomorrow we declare victory
去探索其它的维度
and explore the extra dimension.
从另一方面
On the other hand,
我并不知道我们究竟何时能发现它
I don't know exactly when we're gonna discover it.
不过我认为现在的前景要远好于
I think, though, the prospects today are much better
它们的过去
than they have been in the past.
费米望远镜将会继续收集
The Fermi Telescope will continue gathering evidence
太空深处的证据直到2015年前后
from the depths of space until around 2015.
不过要证明存在有不止三个维度
But proof that there are more than three dimensions
可能并不是那么遥远了
may not come from so far away.
眼下人类有史以来所打造的最大的实验
Right now the biggest experiment mankind has ever built
正在瑞士的阿尔卑斯山底下努力去发现它们
is trying to find them under the Swiss Alps.
科学目标
The goal of science
就是向我们揭示大自然最深层的运作
is to reveal to us the deepest workings of nature.
科学尝试里没有什么比弦理论更加深入
And nothing in science attempts to go deeper than string theory.
弦理论称物质的每一个粒子
String theory says that every single particle of matter
宇宙中的能量
and energy in the Universe
其实都是小小的颤动的弦
is actually a tiny, vibrating string...
弦的颤动并不是在三个维度上而是九个
A string that vibrates not in three dimensions, but in nine.
若是弦理论是正确的那空间的每一点
If string theory is right, at every point in space,
都有六个额外的维度紧紧缠绕在一起
there are six extra dimensions curled up incredibly tight.
这些看不见的维度
These hidden dimensions
可以解决所有的物理奥秘
could solve all the mysteries of physics.
但是有一个问题
But there's a problem.
自弦理论在40多年前首次提出以来
Since string theory was first proposed over 40 years ago,
并没有丝毫证据支持它
there's not a single shred of evidence to support it.
数以千计的科学家在追寻证据
Thousands of scientists are on the hunt for that evidence.
日内瓦的阿尔卑斯山麓下
Under the foothills of the Alps in Geneva
建有一个大型强子对撞机
lies the Large Hadron Collider, the LHC.
那是个17英里长的环形跑道
It's a 17-mile-long circular racetrack
旨在将亚原子粒子撞击在一起
designed to smash subatomic particles together
依靠惊人的能量
at phenomenal energies.
加州理工学院的物理学教授玛利亚·丝波罗普鲁
Caltech Physics Professor Maria Spiropulu
自大学毕业以后就一直在日内瓦
has been working at the atom smashers in Geneva
从事粒子加速器工作
since she was an undergraduate.
她见过无数粒子的飞行
She has seen trillions of particles fly
如亚原♥子♥弹♥片那样穿过探测器
like subatomic shrapnel through the detectors.
我觉得大型强子对撞机是人类所尝试过的最具雄心
The LHC, I think, is the most ambitious
技术上最为复杂的科学项目
and technologically complex scientific project
人类已经尝试过了
that humanity has ever attempted.
我们每秒有10亿次碰撞
We got a billion collisions per second,
记录这个数据可谓是项艰巨的任务
and this is a daunting task to record this data.
玛利亚和她的同事筛选了
Maria and her colleagues have sifted through
这一大堆数据
this immense pile of data
甄别出了几十个亚原子粒子
and identified dozens of tiny subatomic particles,
物质的基本模块
the basic building blocks of matter.
但他们从未见到过
But they've never seen the strings
深居在这些粒子中心的弦
that lie at the heart of each of these particles.
弦理论预测它们必定
String theory predicts that they must be
比原子要小上万亿万亿倍
a trillion, trillion times smaller than an atom.
换句话说
Put that another way --
若是原子的大小相当于太阳系
if an atom were the size of the solar system,
一个弦就相当于一个灯泡的大小
a string would be the size of a light bulb.
目标越小
And the smaller an object is,
则看到它所需的能量就越大
the more energy it takes to see it.
环绕大型强子对撞机飞行的亚原子粒子的能量
The energy of the subatomic particles racing around the LHC
大得惊人
is staggeringly large.
质子穿梭在这个环里飞快乃至光束
Protons zip around this ring so fast that a beam of light
也只能超越它们每小时约8英里
only outruns them by about eight miles an hour.
但要看到基本的弦
But to see fundamental strings
以及它们六个缠绕在一起的维度
and their six curled-up dimensions
所需的能量几乎不可理喻
requires levels of energy almost beyond comprehension.
如果你想做出一个对撞机
If you want to make a collider
使其真正产生弦那样的东西
that will actually produce something like strings,
所需的加速器要远大于大型强子对撞机
it would take an accelerator much bigger than the LHC,
远大过地球地球的周长
much bigger than the Earth, the circumference of the Earth,
没准远大过银河系
possibly much bigger than the Milky Way.
不过或许有办法来证明弦理论
But there may be a way to prove that string theory
以及伴随它的六个额外的空间维度
and the six extra dimensions of space that come with it