我们星系中心的黑洞真的是虫洞吗?

我们星系中心的黑洞真的是虫洞吗?

While no one knows for sure what would happen if you fell into a black hole, it's probably safe to say that you wouldn't be back this way again.

虽然没有人确切地知道如果你掉进了黑洞会发生什么，但可以肯定地说，你不会再以这种方式回来了。

A wormhole could theoretically connect two different points in spacetime. (Photo: Rost9/Shutterstock)

Now, try to imagine another possibility, that instead of being a final destination for all things, a black hole is actually a doorway. Or better yet, a hub in an intergalactic transportation network, otherwise known as a wormhole.

现在，试着想象另一种可能性，黑洞不是所有事物的最终目的地，而是一扇门。更棒的是，它是星系间运输网络的枢纽，也被称为虫洞。

That's exactly what physicists from the University of Buffalo and China's Yangzhou University aim to do with research published in the journal Physical Review D.

这正是布法罗大学和中国扬州大学的物理学家们在《物理评论D》杂志上发表的研究成果。

That would be a wormhole, an entirely theoretical shortcut in spacetime that links two disparate locations in the universe.

那将是一个虫洞，一个完全理论上的时空捷径，连接着宇宙中两个完全不同的位置。

The most conclusive way to find out would be to send something through one of these all-consuming hoovers. But it would take thousands of years for any probe to reach our nearest galactic carnivore.

最具决定性的方法是通过这些吞噬一切的吸盘传送一些东西。但任何探测器要到达离我们最近的银河系食肉动物，都需要数千年的时间。

Instead, the research team focused on a certain canary that's been hanging around the coal mine known as Sagittarius (Sag) A*. That's the black hole thought to preside over the center of our own Milky Way galaxy. And the "canary" would be a star called S2 that's been dawdling recklessly around the supermassive black hole's mouth for millennia.

相反，研究小组关注的是一直在煤矿附近游荡的一种叫人马座(射手座)的金丝雀。这就是被认为位于我们银河系中心的黑洞。而“金丝雀”则是一颗叫做S2的恒星，它在超大质量黑洞的嘴巴周围肆无忌惮地游荡了数千年。

So how would you know?

你怎么知道?

In their new research, the physicists don't yet offer an answer, but they devise a new technique for distinguishing wormholes from their black-hearted brethren. Stare at the star on our side of the black hole long enough — likely for several decades — and its telltale wobble will suggest something on the other side of the chasm is pulling its gravitational strings.

在他们的新研究中，物理学家们还没有给出答案，但他们设计了一种新技术来区分虫洞和它们的黑心兄弟。长时间地凝视黑洞我们这边的恒星——很可能是几十年——它的抖动就会说明，在黑洞的另一边，有什么东西在拉着它的引力弦。

Of course, since theoretical wormholes are even weirder than theoretical black holes, it's not that simple. For one thing, we don't yet have the equipment for such a sensitive observation at that kind of distance. And for another, the result still wouldn't be conclusive. If S2 doesn't show any sign of a wobble, that could just mean there's no star at the other end of the tunnel.

当然，既然理论上的虫洞比理论上的黑洞更古怪，事情就没那么简单了。首先，我们还没有设备可以在这么远的距离进行如此敏感的观测。另一方面，结果仍然不是决定性的。如果S2没有任何摆动的迹象，那就意味着在隧道的另一端没有恒星。

"When we reach the precision needed in our observations, we may be able to say that a wormhole is the most likely explanation if we detect perturbations in the orbit of S2," Stojkovic notes in the release. "But we cannot say that, 'Yes, this is definitely a wormhole.'"

“当我们达到观测所需的精度时，我们可能会说，如果我们探测到S2轨道的扰动，虫洞是最有可能的解释，”斯托伊科维奇在新闻稿中写道。“但我们不能说，‘是的，这绝对是一个虫洞。’”

But at least Albert Einstein gives the concept some credence.

但至少爱因斯坦给了这个概念一些可信度。

According to his more-than-a-century-old theory of general relativity, a wormhole could exist, at least mathematically.

根据他一个多世纪前提出的广义相对论，虫洞可能存在，至少在数学上是存在的。

Keeping a wormhole open would require a kind of energy that we have no idea how to create. (Photo: Dimonika/Shutterstock)

Everyone at least agrees that if wormholes were real, they wouldn't help faraway aliens get their Amazon packages any faster.

每个人至少都同意，如果虫洞是真实的，它们不会帮助遥远的外星人更快地拿到他们的亚马逊包裹。

Spacecraft, much less people, wouldn't be able to squeeze through the wormhole's mouth. Opening the mouth of a wormhole, at least in theory, requires an impossible amount of energy. And if it could be opened, those jaws would clamp down again almost instantly, according to a 1935 amendment to Einstein's ideas called the Einstein-Rosen theory.

飞船，更不用说人了，将无法通过虫洞的嘴巴。打开一个虫洞的嘴，至少在理论上，需要大量的能量。根据1935年爱因斯坦的“爱因斯坦-罗森理论”修正案，如果它能被打开，这些下巴会立即再次咬住。

In that regard, the wormhole researchers are inclined to agree.

在这方面，虫洞研究人员倾向于同意。

"Even if a wormhole is traversable, people and spaceships most likely aren't going to be passing through," Stojkovic notes. "Realistically, you would need a source of negative energy to keep the wormhole open, and we don't know how to do that. To create a huge wormhole that's stable, you need some magic."

“即使虫洞是可以穿越的，人和宇宙飞船也很可能不会通过，”斯托伊科维奇指出。“实际上，你需要一个负能量来源来保持虫洞打开，我们不知道怎么做。要创造一个稳定的巨大虫洞，你需要一些魔法。”

Then again, who's to say more advanced civilizations in the universe haven't already managed to pry open a wormhole — and turned Sag A* into one of the busiest superhighways in the cosmos?

然而，谁又能说宇宙中更先进的文明还没有撬开一个虫洞——把Sag a *变成宇宙中最繁忙的高速公路之一呢?

At the very least, the researchers have conjured a little magic of their own. They cast a ray of hope on a place that famously eats rays for breakfast.

至少，研究人员自己变出了一点魔法。他们给这个以早餐吃海鲜闻名的地方带来了一线希望。