暗物質(zhì)和暗能量的區(qū)別是什么?

暗物質(zhì)和暗能量的區(qū)別是什么?

The universe may seem like an impossibly massive void, speckled only by stars, planets and the occasional cigar-shaped object.

宇宙可能看起來像一個巨大得難以置信的空間，只有星星、行星和偶爾出現(xiàn)的雪茄形狀的物體點綴其間。

But the truth is, the cosmos is rich with energy and elements. We just can't process them.

但事實是，宇宙充滿了能量和元素。我們就是無法處理它們。

In fact, for all of humanity's probings into the cosmos — wielding everything from the Hubble Space Telescope to the 64-dish array of radio telescopes known as MeerKAT— we still can't get a fix on some of its most common elements.

事實上，盡管人類不斷探索宇宙——從哈勃太空望遠鏡到被稱為貓鼬的64碟射電望遠鏡——我們?nèi)匀粺o法確定其中一些最常見的元素。

Like dark matter and dark energy.

比如暗物質(zhì)和暗能量。

Dark matter may be composed of particles so exotic we don't know how to look for them. (Photo: GiroScience/Shutterstock)

Dark matter 101

暗物質(zhì)101

Dark matter is also not antimatter, a material composed of subatomic particles that annihilate normal matter. (And, if we could add a layman's theory, we also know that it is neither Nutella nor very old fruitcake.)

暗物質(zhì)也不是反物質(zhì)，反物質(zhì)是一種亞原子粒子組成的物質(zhì)，它能消滅正常物質(zhì)。(如果我們能加上一個門外漢的理論，我們也知道它既不是Nutella也不是非常古老的水果蛋糕。)

But the prevailing opinion is that dark matter is almost incomprehensibly foreign to us. It eschews the usual one-two punch of protons and neutrons in favor of far-out building blocks like axions or Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPS).

但普遍的觀點是暗物質(zhì)對我們來說幾乎是不可理解的陌生。它避開了通常的質(zhì)子和中子的一擊兩擊，而是選擇了像軸子或弱相互作用大質(zhì)量粒子(wimp)這樣的遙遠的構(gòu)建塊。

Dark energy 101

暗能量101

But while we can say that dark matter is a thing, dark energy is much more elusive — and as its name suggests, more dynamic. Think of it as a happening, rather than a thing.

但是，盡管我們可以說暗物質(zhì)是一種物質(zhì)，但暗能量要難得多——正如它的名字所暗示的那樣，暗能量更具活力。把它看作是一件正在發(fā)生的事情，而不是一件簡單的事情。

Something is pushing the universe outward at a rapid rate. And that something may be dark matter. (Photo: Triff/Shutterstock)

An expanding universe, of course, has been a given since, Edwin Hubble — yes, that Hubble — first used an Earth-based telescope to note the "redshift" of distant galaxies, and by that we mean the farther away something is, the more the wavelength of the light is stretched, so the light is seen as "shifted" towards the red part of the spectrum.

當然,宇宙的膨脹已經(jīng)給定,埃德溫·哈勃——是的,哈勃望遠鏡——通過地面望遠鏡第一次使用要注意遙遠星系的“紅移”,和我們的意思是東西越遠,光線的波長越緊張,所以光線被視為“轉(zhuǎn)移”向光譜的紅色部分。

The idea that this expansion would slow down over time makes sense. You can't run from gravity.

隨著時間的推移，這種擴張會放緩的想法是有道理的。你無法逃離地心引力。

But Hubble — the telescope this time — disabused us of that notion. It found evidence that the universe is expanding faster than anyone ever predicted. It's growing at such a torrid clip, scientists say we may need to overhaul the rules of physics to understand why.

但哈勃——這一次是哈勃——讓我們打消了這種想法。它發(fā)現(xiàn)了宇宙膨脹速度比任何人預(yù)測的都要快的證據(jù)。科學家們說，它的生長速度如此之快，我們可能需要徹底改變物理學的規(guī)則來理解其原因。

What kind of energy is the universe possessed of that allows it to fly in the face of gravity? Einstein may have called it back in the early part of the 20th century with his theory of a cosmological constant — a discarded notion that scientists dismissed as his "greatest blunder."

宇宙擁有什么樣的能量能讓它在重力面前飛行?愛因斯坦可能在20世紀早期用他的宇宙學常數(shù)理論將其稱為宇宙常數(shù)——一個被科學家們斥為他“最大錯誤”的被拋棄的概念。

His theory suggests an unvarying density of energy causing the universe to buck against gravity and push outward. That energy saturates even the blankest expanses of space.

他的理論表明，一種不變的能量密度導(dǎo)致宇宙逆重力而行并向外推。這種能量甚至充滿了最空曠的空間。

Hello dark energy, our old friend. Of course, the only sign of its existence is the fact that something is pushing this ever-accelerating cosmic expansion. Is it, as some theories suggest, a fluid or field that fills space and has a counteractive effect on matter and energy as we know it?

你好，暗能量，我們的老朋友。當然，它存在的唯一跡象是有什么東西在推動這個不斷加速的宇宙膨脹。它是否像某些理論所說的那樣，是一種充滿空間的液體或場，對我們所知的物質(zhì)和能量有反作用?