双语阅读：超越100年前的广义相对论.docxVIP

You might think that physicists would be satisfied by now. They have been testing Einstein’s theory of general relativity, which explains what gravity is, ever since he first described it 100 years ago this year. And not once has it been found wanting. But they are still investigating its predictions to the nth decimal place, and this centenary year should see some particularly stringent tests. Perhaps one will uncover the first tiny flaw in this awesome mathematical edifice. 你可能以为，物理学家现在已经满意了。他们一直在对爱因斯坦的广义相对论进行检验。爱因斯坦在整整100年前第一次提出了广义相对论，它解释了引力是什么。科学家们一直没有发现它存在任何不足之处，但却仍在调查根据它做出的预测，精确到第n位小数。在该理论100周年之际，科学家会做一些特别严格的验证。也许会有人发现这座非凡数学大厦的第一个微小缺陷。Stranger still is that, though general relativity is celebrated and revered among physicists like no other theory in science, they would doubtless react with joy if it is proved to fail. That’s science: You produce a smart idea and then test it to its breaking point. 更为奇怪的是，虽然在物理学家中，广义相对论获得的赞颂和尊崇超过了所有其他科学理论，但如果验证证明它站不住脚，他们无疑会感到欣喜。这就是科学：你提出了一个聪明的想法，然后检验它至极限。But this determination to expose flaws isn’t really about skepticism, far less wanton nihilism. Most physicists are already convinced that general relativity is not the final word on gravity. That’s because the theory, which is applied mostly at the scale of stars and galaxies, doesn’t mesh with quantum theory, the other cornerstone of modern physics, which describes the ultra-small world of atoms and subatomic particles. It’s suspected that underlying both theories is a theory of quantum gravity, from which general relativity and conventional quantum theory emerge as excellent approximations just as Isaac Newton’s theory of gravity, posed in the late 17th century, works fine except in some extreme situations. 但是揭示该理论缺陷的这种决心，其实无关乎怀疑主义，和肆意的虚无主义更是远远扯不上关系。大多数物理学家已经确信，广义相对论并不是引力的最终定论。这是因为该理论主要应用在恒星和星系的规模，和量子理论没有交集。量子理论是现代物理学的另一块基石，针对的是原子和亚原子粒子级别的微观世界。科学家们觉得，这两个基本理论的依托是一个量子引力理论，广义相对论和常规量子理论是它的绝佳近似值，这就像艾萨克·牛顿在17世纪后期提出的万有引力理论，除某些极端情况外，应用起来通常都没问题。The hope is, then, that if we can find