按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页，按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页，按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部！
————未阅读完？加入书签已便下次继续阅读！
ing now and street level representing the moment of the big bang）； at the time ofwilson and penzias’s discovery the most distant galaxies anyone had ever detected were onabout the sixtieth floor； and the most distant things—quasars—were on about the twentieth。
penzias and wilson’s finding pushed our acquaintance with the visible universe to within halfan inch of the sidewalk。
still unaware of what caused the noise； wilson and penzias phoned dicke at princeton anddescribed their problem to him in the hope that he might suggest a solution。 dicke realized at once what the two young men had found。 “well； boys； we’ve just been scooped；” he told hiscolleagues as he hung up the phone。
soon afterward the astrophysical journal published two articles： one by penzias andwilson describing their experience with the hiss； the other by dicke’s team explaining itsnature。 although penzias and wilson had not been looking for cosmic background radiation；didn’t know what it was when they had found it； and hadn’t described or interpreted itscharacter in any paper； they received the 1978 nobel prize in physics。 the princetonresearchers got only sympathy。 according to dennis overbye in lonely hearts of the cosmos； neither penzias nor wilson altogether understood the significance of what they had founduntil they read about it in the new york times 。
incidentally； disturbance from cosmic background radiation is something we have allexperienced。 tune your television to any channel it doesn’t receive； and about 1 percent of thedancing static you see is accounted for by this ancient remnant of the big bang。 the next timeyou plain that there is nothing on； remember that you can always watch the birth of theuniverse。
although everyone calls it the big bang； many books caution us not to think of it as anexplosion in the conventional sense。 it was； rather； a vast； sudden expansion on a whoppingscale。 so what caused it？
one notion is that perhaps the singularity was the relic of an earlier； collapsed universe—that we’re just one of an eternal cycle of expanding and collapsing universes； like the bladderon an oxygen machine。 others attribute the big bang to what they call “a false vacuum” or “ascalar field” or “vacuum energy”—some quality or thing； at any rate； that introduced ameasure of instability into the nothingness that was。 it seems impossible that you could getsomething from nothing； but the fact that once there was nothing and now there is a universeis evident proof that you can。 it may be that our universe is merely part of many largeruniverses； some in different dimensions； and that big bangs are going on all the time all overthe place。 or it may be that space and time had some other forms altogether before the bigbang—forms too alien for us to imagine—and that the big bang represents some sort oftransition phase； where the universe went from a form we can’t understand to one we almostcan。 “these are very close to religious questions；” dr。 andrei linde； a cosmologist atstanford； told the new york times in 2001。
the big bang theory isn’t about the bang itself but about what happened after the bang。
not long after； mind you。 by doing a lot of math and watching carefully what goes on inparticle accelerators； scientists believe they can look back to 10…43seconds after the moment ofcreation； when the universe was still so small that you would have needed a microscope tofind it。 we mustn’t swoon over every extraordinary number that es before us； but it isperhaps worth latching on to one from time to time just to be reminded of their ungraspableand amazing breadth。 thus 10…43is 0。0000000000000000000000000000000000000000001； orone 10 million trillion trillion trillionths of a second。
a word on scientific notation： since very large numbers are cumbersome to write and nearly impossible to read； scientistsuse a shorthand involving powers （or multiples） of ten in which； for instance； 10；000；000；000 is written 1010 and 6；500；000bees 6。5 x 106。 the principle is based very simply on multiples of ten： 10 x 10 （or 100） bees 102； 10 x 10 x 10 （or1；000） is 103； and so on； obviously and indefinitely。 the little superscript number signifies the number of zeroes followingthe larger principal number。 negative notations provide latter in print （especially essentially a mirror image； with thesuperscript number indicating the number of spaces to the right of the decimal point （so 10…4 means 0。0001）。 though i salutethe principle； it remains an amazement to me that anyone seeing 〃1。4 x 109 km3’ would see at once that that signifies 1。4 most of what we know； or believe we know； about the early moments of the universe isthanks to an idea called inflation theory first propounded in 1979 by a junior particlephysicist； then at stanford； now at mit； named alan guth。 he was thirty…two years old and；by his own admission； had never done anything much before。 he would probably never havehad his great theory except that he happened to attend a lecture on the big bang given bynone other than robert dicke。 the lecture inspired guth to take an interest in cosmology； andin particular in the birth of the universe。
the eventual result was the inflation theory； which holds that a fraction of a moment afterthe dawn of creation； the universe underwent a sudden dramatic expansion。 it inflated—ineffect ran away with itself； doubling in size every 10…34seconds。 the whole episode may havelasted no more than 10…30seconds—that’s one million million million million millionths of asecond—but it changed the universe from something you could hold in your hand tosomething at least 10；000；000；000；000；000；000；000；000 times bigger。 inflation theoryexplains the ripples and eddies that make our universe possible。 without it； there would be noclumps of matter and thus no stars； just drifting gas and everlasting darkness。
according to guth’s theory； at one ten…millionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionthof a second； gravity emerged。 after another ludicrously brief interval it was joined byelectromagnetism and the strong and weak nuclear forces—the stuff of physics。 these werejoined an instant later by swarms of elementary particles—th