霍金“黑洞悖论”谜题真的解开了吗？(上)

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是图利卡·博斯。[qh]

You probably already know what a black hole is, but have you ever heard of the black hole information paradox?[qh]

你可能已经了解了黑洞的概念，但你听说过黑洞信息悖论吗?[qh]

I'm here with Clara Moskowitz, our space and physics editor who just edited a big, special issue for Scientific American on black holes.[qh]

现在和我在一起的是克拉拉·莫斯科维茨，她是我们的空间和物理编辑，她刚刚为《科学美国人》编辑了关于黑洞的一期特刊。[qh]

Hey, Clara.[qh]

嗨, 克拉拉。[qh]

Hi, thanks for having me.[qh]

嗨，谢谢你们邀请我。[qh]

So, Clara, what are we here to talk about today?[qh]

克拉拉，我们今天要谈什么?[qh]

We're here to talk about the black hole information paradox, which has been a problem in physics for a long time. [qh]

我们今天要讨论的是黑洞信息悖论，这个问题在物理学中已经存在很长时间了。[qh]

Basically black holes seem to break the rules of physics. [qh]

基本上，黑洞似乎打破了物理学的规则。[qh]

And part of the reason why is because we have to use two different theories to describe them. [qh]

部分原因是我们必须用两种不同的理论来描述它们。[qh]

And the two theories do not get along.[qh]

这两种理论互相打架。[qh]

On the one hand, we have quantum mechanics, which describes the world of the very small atoms and particles. [qh]

一方面，我们有量子力学，这一理论描述了由微小原子和粒子组成的世界。[qh]

On the other hand, we have general relativity, which describes things that are very big, very massive, very large, and most things in the world don't require both theories.[qh]

另一方面，我们有广义相对论，这一理论描述的是大尺寸，大质量，大规模的事物，世界上大多数事情都不需要同时满足这两种理论。[qh]

They're either big or they're small.[qh]

这些事物要么大，要么小。[qh]

Black holes are both. [qh]

黑洞却两者兼有。[qh]

Black holes are the densest things in the entire universe.[qh]

黑洞是整个宇宙中密度最大的物质。[qh]

And they take up very little space, but they have so much mass. [qh]

黑洞占据的空间很小，但质量却很大。[qh]

You really need both theories. [qh]

需要两种理论来解释。[qh]

And yet when you try to combine quantum mechanics and general relativity, everything goes crazy.[qh]

然而，当你试图把量子力学和广义相对论结合起来时，一切都变得疯狂起来。[qh]

How can two rules of physics not apply?[qh]

两条物理定律怎么可能不适用呢?[qh]

Each one works perfectly in its own realm. [qh]

每一个理论都在自己的领域里完美地运作。[qh]

So quantum mechanics does very well describing everything that's, that's subatomic, everything that we can't see, that's very small.[qh]

量子力学可以很好地描述所有亚原子的东西，所有我们看不到的，非常小的东西。[qh]

And general relativity works perfectly to describe very big things like the motions of planets.[qh]

而广义相对论可以完美地描述非常巨大的东西，比如行星的运动。[qh]

But we almost never have to combine them in one example, except for black holes. [qh]

但我们几乎不需要把这两种理论结合到一个例子中，除了黑洞。[qh]

Black holes take up very little space, but they have so much mass that general relativity and quantum mechanics equally apply. [qh]

黑洞占据的空间很小，但它们的质量很大，因此广义相对论和量子力学同样适用黑洞。[qh]

And yet when you try to combine the two theories, they don't work together.[qh]

然而，当你试图将这两种理论结合起来时，它们并不能一起运作。[qh]

How exactly do they not work together?[qh]

这两种理论怎么不能一起运作呢?[qh]

Basically, when you try to combine them, the equations break, they give infinities, they just don't produce answers or calculations that you can use that you can work with.[qh]

基本上，当试着把它们结合起来时，方程会断裂，会给出无穷大的数，不会产生你可以使用的答案或计算结果。[qh]

And it's a sign that something is missing. [qh]

这是一种遗漏了什么东西的迹象。[qh]

We don't fully understand something. [qh]

有些事情我们还没有完全理解。[qh]

And the thing that we don't fully understand is gravity. [qh]

我们还不完全了解的是引力。[qh]