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While mirror matter would be one alternate reality right here in this room,
镜像物质兴许就是这个房间的另一种现实的可能性，
what if the answer to the multiverse lay way out in what’s known as the cosmic microwave background?
但如果多重宇宙的答案远在所谓的“宇宙微波背景辐射”（cmb）之外呢？
There, at the edge of everything, lie clues about the beginning of our own cosmos.
那里，在那个一切的边缘，隐藏着有关我们所在的这个宇宙的起源的线索。
and it may not be as straightforward as it seems.
而那些那些又并没有看起来那么简单会怎样呢？
"You can think of the big bang as that kind of fireball that was the hot plasma that was expanding,
“你可以把大爆炸想象成一个火球，一个由正在膨胀的热等离子体构成的火球，
but you can also think of the big bang as the beginning of everything, the beginning of time and space and so on.
你也可以把它想象成一切的开始，时间的开始，空间的开始，等等。
And those two things it turns out are not exactly the same.
事实表明，时间和空间其实并不完全相同。
Could there be a whole era of cosmic history in between the beginning of the universe as a whole and that fireball that led to our observable universe?"
有没有可能在整个宇宙开端到大爆炸，也即创造出了我们这个可观测宇宙的火球出现的这段时间还有一段完整的宇宙史？
This is known as "inflation," and, in the version where it goes on forever, "eternal inflation."
这就是所谓的“膨胀说”，声称宇宙会无休无止地膨胀的理论便是“无限膨胀说”。
Inflation is the idea that something as small as a kilogram of material can be blown up to become the entire observable universe, and more.
膨胀说的核心思想便是，小至一千克的某种物质都能膨胀成一个完整的可观测宇宙，甚至膨胀成更大的宇宙。
"This inflation process is, is, it turns out, very, very, very effective.
“事实证明，这一膨胀作用非常非常非常有效。
So it doesn't just create the observable universe or even a million times bigger,
它不仅能创造出可观测宇宙，甚至是比可观测宇宙大一百万倍的宇宙，
but it generally keeps going, creates huge amounts of space and time,
还能继续保持这一状态，创造出巨大体量的时间和空间，
including, possibly, regions of space-time with very different properties than the one that we inhabit.
包括可能会出现与我们的时空区域有着极为不同的特性的时空区域。
There are these other big regions we might call universes,
还有其他我们或许可以称之为宇宙的广阔区域，
but they might have very different properties, different laws of physics, different constants, that might have beings in them and so on,
但那些区域可能有着迥然不同的特性，有着迥然不同的物理定律，常量，而而那些特性本身就还有进一步研究的可能，
that might even have a different number of dimensions, all brought about by a single process."
甚至还有多个维度，而这一切都是源于膨胀这一个过程。
And there are a few ideas about what, exactly, that process entails.
对于这一过程究竟会带来怎样的结果，科学家们也提出了一些看法。
One flavor suggests that the multiverse might look something like a root beer float – where our universe is just one in a series of bubbles.
一种观点认为，多元宇宙可能看着有点像漂浮沙士——我们的宇宙只是一系列气泡中的一个。
"It's a little bit too far away.
“这种观点稍微有点离谱。
Now imagine that there's some sphere that smashes into this, right?
现在，想象有个球体砸到了这个球，好吗？
It'll bruise, it'll dent one side of this and that's exactly what a collision with another bubble would do;
这个球的表面就会出现擦伤，就会凹陷，和另一个气泡碰撞也会带来这样的变化；
it would create a sort of disc on the sky that was a little bit different than every other direction.
它的上空就会产生一个类似圆盘的东西，但每个方向都会不太一样。
My collaborators and I have actually done this,
我和我的同事其实已经做过这个研究了，
taken the microwave background data, looked for these signatures, looked for patches on the sky.
我们采集了一些微博背景辐射的数据，对它的这些特征，对它上空出现的这些“补丁”做了分析。
We found some, that's the exciting thing.
我们也找到了一些，这点确实比较令人激动。
The unexcited thing is that the things that we found are totally explainable as just random variations in the regular microwave background."
让人失望的是我们发现的这些东西完全可以被视为常规微博背景辐射出现的一些随机波动。”
With more and better data on the edge of the universe,
要获取到更多更可靠的有关宇宙边缘的数据，
we could study features like temperature and light polarization of the cmb in more detail, to do more sensitive tests for this kind of impact.
我们才能对cmb的温度，光偏振等特性进行更细致的研究，对这种影响进行精度更高的测试。
And in the realm of inflation exists another out-of-this-world theory – and this one might just be the cherry on top.
膨胀说里还存在着另一个“离谱”的理论——但或许只是锦上添花式的理论。
"A fairly natural process, just in the dynamics of inflation, before our sort of hot fireball big bang
“膨胀说体系下，发生在我们那个火球大爆炸之前的一个相对自然的过程
could have created a whole bunch of baby universes.
也有可能产生一系列的婴儿宇宙。
They would appear to us as black holes,
在我们看来，它们就像黑洞一样，
but inside each black hole would be a sort of wormhole that connects to a baby universe."
只不过每个黑洞里都有连通一个婴儿宇宙的类似虫洞一样的通道。
So, if all we need is to do is figure out how to jump into a lucky black hole, find a bruise in the farthest stars,
所以，如果我们要做的只是想办法跳进一个比较幸运的黑洞，在那个黑洞最远的恒星上找到一处“擦伤”，
confirm some neutrons are where they shouldn’t be, or build a quantum copy machine to pin down quantum dynamics for good,
证实一些中子出现在了它们原本不应该出现的地方，或者建造一个量子复印机来永久地控制住量子动力学，
how close are we to finding a parallel universe?
这时，我们距离发现平行宇宙又有多远呢？
"Very close. It's right here.
“那就非常接近了，这么近。
For the quantum multiverse, it's here all the time. We just have to believe it.
就拿量子多重宇宙来说，它一直都在那里，我们要做的就是相信它的存在。
For a mirror sector, it's right here, we just have to detect it.
就镜像宇宙来说，它也在那里，我们要做的就是检测到它。
For a baby universe inside a black hole, we have to go and find it."
而黑洞内的婴儿宇宙嘛，我们要做的就是去找到它。”
"Over the next five years, we're going to be exploring a lot more possible mechanisms by which the neutron can oscillate into mirror neutrons.
“未来五年，我们还会探索更多可能的，中子能够震荡成镜像中子的宇宙机制。
And as even better, brighter sources of neutrons appear around the world, on the ten year timescale,
随着更可靠，更亮的中子发射器出现在世界各地，我们认为，十年，
we think that we can really probe a lot of interesting space where parallel universes might be hiding."
我们便能探索到很多有趣的，可能隐藏着拼音宇宙的空间。”
"If we're looking for a bubble that's running into our bubble universe,
“如果我们在找的是正在进入我们的泡泡宇宙的一个泡泡的话，
those really could appear in the data at any time, with lots of luck,
运气好的话，那它随时都可能出现在我们的数据中，
but that's something that even in five or ten years, more data will certainly exist and that's data that we can check for that effect.
不过，这些数据还需要收集五年甚至是十年的时间，到时候我们肯定已经收集到更多的数据了，我们就可以拿那些数据来验证这一理论。
So somewhere between right now and thousands of years, I think we'll definitely maybe find one."
短则下一刻，长则数千年后，我认为我们是有发现泡泡宇宙存在的可能的。
"To discover something like that would revolutionize physics.
“这样的发现势必会给物理学带来翻天覆地的变化，
I don't even know where we'd go next. But it would be very, very exciting."
下一步何去何从我也不知道。但肯定会非常非常令人兴奋。”
There's a parallel universe somewhere where you're the smartest person in the world,
某个地方肯定有一个平行宇宙，而你就是那个世界最聪明的人，
up to date on all the latest scientific discoveries.
随时跟进着最新的科学发现。
You can jump closer to that universe right now by hitting the subscribe button and the bell down below.
只要点击订阅按钮，点亮下方的小铃铛，你就能离那个宇宙更近一步。
Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time! Bye!
感谢大家的收看，我们下期节目再见！
