時光旅行不再遙遠？美科學家發表最新理論
ESC Chicago keynoter makes case for time travel
by Karen Field
理論物理學家Ronald Mallett畢生都在為製造一台時光機這一使命而努力。他的時光機理論是基於愛因斯坦的相對論，涉及製造一個環型光束並利用這一能量產生一個巨大的引力場。
Theoretical physicist Ronald Mallett is on a lifelong mission to build a time machine. His theory of a time machine, based on Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, involves creating a circulating beam of light and exploiting the energy to produce a gravitational field.
康涅狄格大學(University of Connecticut)理論物理系教授Ronald Mallett在日前舉行的嵌入式系統大會(ESC)上發表了一篇關於時間穿越之物理學的充滿神秘色彩的大會主題演說，描述了黑洞、藍色巨人星、蠕蟲洞(連接黑洞入口的隧道)等“宇宙中的一些奇怪的事”來說明(至少在理論上)將來某一天進行時光穿梭的可能性。
Ronald Mallett, a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Connecticut, gave a mind-bending keynote speech on the physics of time travel to an enthralled audience at the Embedded Systems Conference here Tuesday morning, describing how black holes, blue giant stars, and worm holes (tunnels that connect the mouths of black holes)—some of the strangest things in the Universe—illustrate (at least in theory) the potential for time travel some day.
Mallett稱，這一天的到來可能不會像人們認為的那麼久。
And that day, Mallett claimed, is not so far in the future as one might think.
時間旅行是人類最古老的幻想之一。但它真的能實現嗎？我們大家都很好奇未來會發些什麼事情，我們一直在思索這個問題，“如果我能回到過去，能改變過去人生中的一些事情麼？” 我在這裡告訴大家，我們正處在讓時間穿越成為現實的門檻上，並且它在基於真實物理基礎上。
“Time travel one of mankind’s oldest fantasies. But is it really possible? All of us have wondered what’s going to happen in the future, and we’ve contemplated the question, ‘What if I could back and change something in my past?” said Mallet. “I am here to tell you we are on the threshold of making time travel a reality, and it’s based on real physics.”
《時間旅行者：一個科學家的個人使命讓時間旅行成為現實》一書的作者，Mallett解釋了在他剛剛十歲的時候，父親意外受傷而逝世，H.G. Well的書《時間機器》使他立志要能及時回到過去挽救他父親的生命。謝天謝地，我很聰明，並沒有對別人講起我的計劃——他們已經夠擔心我了”。
Author of “Time Traveler: A Scientist’s Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality,” Mallett explained how the trauma of his father’s unexpected death when he was just ten and H.G. Well’s book The Time Machine set him on a mission to travel back in time and save his father’s life. “Thankfully, I was astute enough not to tell other people about my plan—they were already worried about me,” Mallett .
這樣的使命成為了他終生的職業，儘管Mallet表示，多年來，他用《黑洞》作為他的表面理由。“黑洞被認為是一個瘋狂的想法，但是合情合理的瘋狂。正是它幫助我在學術界生存，”他說。“直到我拿到終身教職，成了一個全職教授，我才從時間穿越的壁櫥裡走出來(才公開宣佈這一想法)。”That mission became a lifelong preoccupation, though Mallet says that for many years he used “black holes” as his cover story. “Black holes were considered a crazy idea, but legitimate crazy. That’s what helped me survive academia,” he said. “It wasn’t until I got tenure and was made a full professor that I came out of the time travel closet.”
現在其它理論物理學家都在關注時間穿越，他說，大家一起努力工作以驗證他的理論，Mallett的理論基於愛因斯坦的相對論。allett做了大量令人傾佩的工作來解釋這一理論，Mallett在沒有用到數學，並且不到10分鐘的時間揭示了利用光來操縱時間的實際可能性。或許這對現場主要是工程師的觀眾有幫助。Now other theoretical physicists are looking at time travel, he said, and people are working with him to verify his theories, which are based on Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Mallett did an admirable job explaining the theory, which shows the real possibility of using light to manipulate time, with no math and in less than ten minutes. Possibly it helped that the audience was mainly engineers.
Mallett沉思道，這對19世紀通過實驗發現光速是恆定的的科學家而言，感覺該是多麼不可思議。
How weird it must have been, he mused, for 19th century scientists to discover through their experiments that the speed of light was constant.
要保持光速減慢，唯一方法就是改變另外的東西，所謂另外的東西就指的是“時間”——必須慢下來，過去的實驗證明了這一點。Mallett講述了1971年由美國海軍天文台進行的一次實驗，在此次實驗中，保持一個原子時鐘靜止，而另一個原子時鐘被放在一架普通的噴氣式客機上，這架飛機以音速在世界各地飛行。最後客機上時鐘變慢——它減慢的時間和愛因斯坦所預言的一模一樣。
“The only way that speed of light can stay the same is that something else has to be altered. That something else is time—it has to slow down, as experiments have shown,” he said. He described a 1971 experiment conducted by the Naval Observatory, in which one atomic clock was kept stationary, and another atomic clock was put on an ordinary passenger jet and flown around world at the speed of sound. The clock on the passenger jet had slowed down--it had lost time exactly way Einstein had predicted.
根據愛因斯坦的理論，引力也會使時間變慢。Mallett指出，在座的每個人都應熟悉這種現象。他描述了早期的GPS系統為何不能正常工作的原因，那是因為工程師們沒有考慮到基於地面的單元運行明顯要慢於衛星上的時鐘。“實際上他們要用愛因斯坦的理論來糾正這個問題。”
According to Einstein’s theory, gravity will also cause clocks to slow down. Mallett pointed out that everyone in the room was familiar with the phenomenon. He described how early GPS systems did not work properly because engineers failed to take into account that the ground-based units were running noticeably lower than the clocks onboard the satellite. “They actually had to use Einstein’s theory to correct the problem.”
Mallett指出，由於黑洞存在強大的引力，它可被用作一類天然的時光機，儘管在這一過程你會被撕成碎片的事實不會讓人感到愉快。
Because of the strong gravitational force associated with a black hole, Mallett pointed out that it could be used as a kind of natural time machine, though the fact that you’d be ripped apart in the process might not be so pleasant.
Mallett的時間機器是基於一個環形激光器的機器，它可能是一個更實際的方案。據Mallett解釋，他的時光機理論涉及創造一個迴旋光束。這一能量會產生一個引力場，可以實現時間穿越。Mallett目前正在尋求資金援助以進行更多實驗。
Mallett’s time machine, based upon a ring laser’s properties, may be a more practical approach. His theory of a time machine, he explained, involves creating a circulating beam of light. The energy would produce a gravitational field, which could then be exploited to produce a mechanism for time travel. He’s currently seeking funding for further experiments.
Mallett最後總結承認，雖然他認為，我們在技術上真正地處在時間穿越的門檻上，認識到這一點很重要只有到這一刻才真正有意義。他最後總結，希望大家都能享受各自的人生旅程。
He concluded by acknowledging that although he believes we truly are on the threshold of time travel technically, it’s important to realize that it’s only the moment that counts. “I want you all to enjoy your journey through time,” he concluded.
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