Changing how we view the Universe 大型強子對撞機實驗結果或改變宇宙認知

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學習要點

有關 “scientific discovery（科學發現）” 的詞匯

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How long does the particle called ‘a beauty quark’ exist for?

文字稿

The Large Hadron Collider was built to discover brand new particles – and transform our understanding of physics.

建造大型強子對撞機是為瞭探索全新的粒子，並改變我們對物理學的認知。

By crashing particles together harder than they’d been smashed before – the researchers there may have done just that.

通過以前所未有的強度撞擊粒子，研究人員們可能實現瞭這一初衷。

They’ve observed subatomic particles behaving in a way that can’t be explained by the current theory of physics.

研究人員們觀察到，次原子粒子的反應方式無法用現有的物理學理論來解釋。

The scientists may have made one of the biggest discoveries in physics.

科學傢們可能已經取得瞭物理學界最重大的發現之一。

Dr Mitesh Patel, Imperial College
We were literally shaking. We, you know, were shaking like a leaf the first time we looked at these results because, if it does turn out to be real, it could really have profound consequences for physics in general.

米特什·帕特爾博士英國帝國理工學院
“我們當時真的在發抖。當我們第一次看到實驗結果時，激動得渾身發抖，因為如果這個發現被證實，就可能對物理學產生深遠的影響。”

The team have been creating a particle called ‘a beauty quark’. It exists for only a fragment of a second, and then decays into two other particles – what it should do in equal numbers – but it doesn’t, possibly because a mystery force is interrupting the process.

這個研究團隊正在制造一種名叫 “美誇克”（又稱為 “底誇克”）的粒子。它隻存在遠遠不到一秒，就衰變成另外兩種粒子，兩種粒子的數量本應相等，但結果並非如此，這可能是因為一種神秘的力量阻斷瞭這個過程。

Physicists can explain the world around us through the action of four fundamental forces – electricity, gravity and two nuclear forces.

物理學傢可以通過四種基本力的作用來解釋我們身邊的世界，即電（磁）力、引力和兩種核力。

But in recent times, these forces haven’t been able to explain a few things, such as the movement of galaxies, or indeed why the Universe exists at all.

然而，近來，這四種基本力已無法解釋一些現象，比如星系的運動，甚至是宇宙存在的根本原因。

But this new finding is creating a lot of excitement because it contains hints that there might be a fifth force of nature that’s completely new to science.

這一新發現非常振奮人心，因為有跡象表明：可能存在第五種科學界尚未知曉的自然力。

If there is a fifth force, it could answer a lot of questions currently baffling astronomers.

如果第五種力確實存在，那它就可能解答目前困擾天文學傢的諸多問題。

Professor Chris Parkes, CERN
There are these big questions in physics that we don’t have the answers to. And the hope would be, as the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) continues to make discoveries, maybe we could shed some light on those big questions of physics.

克裡斯·帕克斯教授歐洲核子研究組織（CERN）
“物理學中有一些我們無法回答的重大問題。希望隨著大型強子對撞機不斷取得發現，或許我們可以進一步理解這些重大的物理學問題。”

These very early results aren’t definitive yet – more data is needed – but they are generating a lot of excitement about the prospect of a giant leap forward in our understanding of the Universe.

僅憑這些非常早期的實驗結果，還不能完全證實該發現，仍需要更多的數據，但試驗結果振奮人心，讓人們期待能取得對宇宙認知的巨大飛躍。