物理学家可能已经发现了第五种自然力

物理学家可能已经发现了第五种自然力

Physicists tell us the universe is controlled by just four fundamental forces. Gravity and electromagnetism operate on a scale we can readily recognize, while the strong and weak forces act on the atomic level to connect atoms or break them apart.

物理学家告诉我们，宇宙仅由四种基本力控制。引力和电磁力的作用范围我们很容易就能辨认出来，而强磁力和弱磁力则在原子水平上起作用，使原子相互连接或分开。

An example of simulated data modeled for the CMS particle detector on the Large Hadron Collider. (Photo: CERN)

Most of physics can be understood with these forces, but there are anomalies — hints that our understanding of nature is missing something. For this reason, some physicists suspect there may be a mysterious fifth force, such as a force that helps explain the nature of dark matter.

大多数物理现象都可以用这些力来理解，但也有一些异常现象——这暗示我们对自然的理解缺失了一些东西。出于这个原因，一些物理学家怀疑可能存在一种神秘的第五力，比如一种有助于解释暗物质本质的力。

And according to new research, we may be getting close to unmasking it.

根据一项新的研究，我们可能正在接近揭开它的面纱。

Scientists at the Institute for Nuclear Research at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Atomki) were studying how an excited helium atom emitted light as it decayed, CNN reports. The particles reportedly split at the unusual angle of 115 degrees, a behavior that can't be explained by our current understanding of physics.

据美国有线电视新闻网报道，匈牙利科学院核研究所的科学家们正在研究一个被激发的氦原子在衰变过程中是如何发光的。据报道，这些粒子以不寻常的115度角分裂，这种行为无法用我们目前对物理学的理解来解释。

Posted on the preprint repository arXiv, the findings point to a mysterious particle known as X17, which might connect "our visible world with the dark matter," lead scientist Attila Krasznahorkay tells CNN.

在预印本的arXiv上，这些发现指向了一个被称为X17的神秘粒子，它可能连接“我们的可见世界和暗物质”，首席科学家Attila Krasznahorkay告诉CNN。

If these results can be replicated, "this would be a no-brainer Nobel Prize," adds Jonathan Feng, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Irvine, who has followed Krasznahorkay's research for years.

加州大学欧文分校的物理学和天文学教授乔纳森·冯说，如果这些结果可以复制，“这将是一个无需大脑思考的诺贝尔奖”，他多年来一直在跟踪Krasznahorkay的研究。

The Hungarian team's research was initially overlooked until an American team led by Feng ran their own numbers on the same data, apparently confirming the find. Feng's team suggested the new boson is indeed carrying a fifth force that could rewrite the book on our understanding of existence.

匈牙利团队的研究最初被忽视，直到冯带领的一个美国团队对同样的数据进行了自己的统计，显然证实了这一发现。冯的团队认为，新的玻色子确实携带着第五种力量，可以改写我们对存在的理解。

The original reason for the Hungarian team's experiment was to search for a theoretical "dark photon," a proposed electromagnetic force carrier for dark matter, similar to the way regular photons carry the electromagnetic force for normal matter. The new super-light boson may not have been the dark photon they were looking for, but its discovery could turn out to be similarly profound.

匈牙利团队的实验的最初目的是寻找理论上的“暗光子”，一种用于暗物质的电磁力载体，类似于普通光子携带普通物质的电磁力。新的超轻玻色子可能不是他们所寻找的暗光子，但它的发现可能具有同样深远的意义。

“We are very confident about our experimental results,” Krasznahorkay told Nature in 2016. Unless the team missed something, he added, the odds of this being a flukey result are 1 in 200 billion.

2016年，Krasznahorkay告诉《自然》杂志:“我们对实验结果非常有信心。”他补充说，除非这个团队漏掉了什么，否则这种侥幸结果的几率是2000亿分之一。

Scientists need to confirm the results of the 2016 experiment to advance this intriguing possibility, and these new findings are part of that ongoing replication effort. According to Feng, unless some experimental error has been overlooked, the chances that this doesn't reveal a fifth force of nature are 1 in 1 trillion.

科学家们需要确认2016年实验的结果，以推进这一有趣的可能性，这些新发现是正在进行的复制工作的一部分。冯认为，除非一些实验错误被忽略，否则这并没有揭示出第五种自然力的可能性是1万亿分之一。

This still isn't definitive evidence, but as Feng tells CNN, if other researchers can repeat these results with a third type of atom, "that would blow the cover off this thing."

这仍然不是决定性的证据，但正如冯告诉CNN的，如果其他研究人员可以用第三种类型的原子重复这些结果，“那将揭开这个东西的面纱。”