我们对暗能量的所有了解可能都是错误的

我们对暗能量的所有了解可能都是错误的

Dark energy is a theoretical form of energy that physicists use to explain how our universe appears to be expanding at an accelerated rate. It's a hypothesis that has gone from seeming like a suspicious physics "cheat," to now becoming widespread accepted cosmology.

暗能量是一种理论形式的能量，物理学家用它来解释我们的宇宙是如何以加速的速度膨胀的。这一假说从表面上看起来像是一个可疑的物理学“骗子”，到现在已经成为广泛接受的宇宙学。

This shows how luminosity evolution merely mimics dark energy in supernova (SN) cosmology. (Photo: Yonsei University)

But a theory-shattering new paper now threatens to throw dark energy right back into the realm of speculation. It turns out, the most direct and strongest evidence we have for dark energy to date looks to be based on a faulty assumption, reports Phys.org.

但是一篇打破理论的新论文现在威胁要把暗能量重新扔回猜测的领域。据Phys.org网站报道，到目前为止，我们所掌握的关于暗能量最直接、最有力的证据似乎是建立在一个错误的假设上。

Dark energy catapulted into mainstream thought in 1998 after landmark distance measurements using type Ia supernovae for galaxies at high redshift showed that the more distant a galaxy is, the faster it appears to be moving away from us. This formed the core evidence for the idea that our universe must be expanding at an accelerated rate. It was such a landmark discovery that this research led to the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1998年，在利用Ia型超新星对处于高红移的星系进行里程碑式的距离测量后，暗能量一跃成为主流思想。测量结果表明，星系距离我们越远，它离我们越远的速度越快。这为我们的宇宙一定在加速膨胀的观点提供了核心证据。这是一个里程碑式的发现，这项研究也因此获得了2011年诺贝尔物理学奖。

But it might be all wrong. A team of astronomers at Yonsei University in South Korea have shown that those distance measurements using type Ia supernovae are probably in error.

但这可能是完全错误的。韩国延世大学的一组天文学家已经证明，使用Ia型超新星测量距离可能是错误的。

A new paper threatens to push our theory on dark energy back into the realm of speculation. (Photo: Buslik/Shutterstock)

"Quoting Carl Sagan, 'extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,' but I am not sure we have such extraordinary evidence for dark energy. Our result illustrates that dark energy from SN cosmology, which led to the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, might be an artifact of a fragile and false assumption," said project leader Prof. Young-Wook Lee.

“引用卡尔·萨根的话，‘非凡的主张需要非凡的证据’，但我不确定我们是否有关于暗能量的非凡证据。我们的研究结果表明，2011年诺贝尔物理学奖得主——SN宇宙学的暗能量，可能是一个脆弱和错误假设的产物。

By "SN cosmology," Lee is referring directly to the types of conjecture that emerged from that Nobel-winning research. The key assumption made back then was that the corrected luminosity of type Ia supernovae would remain relatively constant even across the redshift (objects moving away from us appear to shift toward the red as the light gets stretched out with the increasing distance). That's what appears to be incorrect, however.、

通过“SN宇宙学”，李直接提到了从那项获得诺贝尔奖的研究中产生的猜想类型。当时做出的关键假设是，Ia型超新星的修正光度即使在红移过程中也会相对保持不变(当光线随着距离的增加而拉长时，远离我们的物体似乎会向红色移动)。然而，这似乎是不正确的。

The Yonsei team performed high-quality spectroscopic observations of nearby host galaxies of type Ia supernovae. They found a significant correlation between the luminosity of these supernovae and stellar population age, at a 99.5 percent confidence level. What this means is that previous research did not account properly for the fact that the supernovae in host galaxies are getting younger with redshift (which is also a look back in time).

延世大学的研究小组对附近Ia型超新星的主星系进行了高质量的光谱观测。他们发现，这些超新星的光度与恒星的年龄之间存在显著的相关性，其置信度为99.5%。这意味着以前的研究没有很好地解释这样一个事实，即随着红移(这也是对时间的回顾)，主星系中的超新星变得越来越年轻。

When properly taken into account, the luminosity evolution of these supernovae essentially cancels out the need to postulate dark energy. In other words, maybe our universe isn't expanding at an accelerated rate after all.

如果适当地加以考虑，这些超新星的光度演化基本上就抵消了对暗能量假设的需要。换句话说，也许我们的宇宙并不是在加速膨胀。

It's a humbling reminder of how our grand cosmological theories are often held together by a very delicate house of flimsy cards. There's only so much we can observe from our little blue home in a corner of the vast cosmos; we have to extrapolate a lot with only a thin slice of data to go on. While our theories are always advancing, it's foolhardy to believe that the information we have today is sufficient for achieving final answers to the big questions.

它谦卑地提醒我们，我们伟大的宇宙学理论往往是由脆弱的卡片组成的精致的房子连接在一起的。在浩瀚宇宙的一角，我们小小的蓝色家园所能看到的只有这么多;我们只能用很少的数据来进行大量的推断。虽然我们的理论一直在进步，但认为我们今天掌握的信息足以最终解决大问题，这是很愚蠢的。

While that might mean we have to go back to the drawing board, it also means we've got much more left to discover. That's what makes doing science so enthralling: the further along we get, the longer we have yet to go.

虽然这可能意味着我们必须从头开始，但这也意味着我们还有更多的东西需要去发现。这就是科学之所以如此迷人的原因:我们走得越远，那么还要走的就越长。