发信人: CtrlAltDel (【齊魯】发哥 百合表情党), 信区: D_Astronomy
标 题: The Nobel Prize in Physics 2011
发信站: 南京大学小百合站 (Tue Oct 4 18:08:46 2011)
Press Release
4 October 2011
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in
Physics for 2011
with one half to
Saul Perlmutter
The Supernova Cosmology Project
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California,
Berkeley, CA, USA
and the other half jointly to
Brian P. Schmidt
The High-z Supernova Search Team
Australian National University,
Weston Creek, Australia
and
Adam G. Riess
The High-z Supernova Search Team
Johns Hopkins University and Space Telescope Science Institute,
Baltimore, MD, USA
"for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through
observations of distant supernovae"
Written in the stars
"Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice..." *
What will be the final destiny of the Universe? Probably it will end in ice,
if we are to believe this year's Nobel Laureates in Physics. They have studied
several dozen exploding stars, called supernovae, and discovered that the
Universe is expanding at an ever-accelerating rate. The discovery came as a
complete surprise even to the Laureates themselves.
In 1998, cosmology was shaken at its foundations as two research teams
presented their findings. Headed by Saul Perlmutter, one of the teams had set
to work in 1988. Brian Schmidt headed another team, launched at the end of 199
4, where Adam Riess was to play a crucial role.
The research teams raced to map the Universe by locating the most distant
supernovae. More sophisticated telescopes on the ground and in space, as well
as more powerful computers and new digital imaging sensors (CCD, Nobel Prize
in Physics in 2009), opened the possibility in the 1990s to add more pieces to
the cosmological puzzle.
The teams used a particular kind of supernova, called type Ia supernova. It is
an explosion of an old compact star that is as heavy as the Sun but as small
as the Earth. A single such supernova can emit as much light as a whole galaxy
. All in all, the two research teams found over 50 distant supernovae whose
light was weaker than expected - this was a sign that the expansion of the
Universe was accelerating. The potential pitfalls had been numerous, and the
scientists found reassurance in the fact that both groups had reached the same
astonishing conclusion.
For almost a century, the Universe has been known to be expanding as a
consequence of the Big Bang about 14 billion years ago. However, the discovery
that this expansion is accelerating is astounding. If the expansion will
continue to speed up the Universe will end in ice.
The acceleration is thought to be driven by dark energy, but what that dark
energy is remains an enigma - perhaps the greatest in physics today. What is
known is that dark energy constitutes about three quarters of the Universe.
Therefore the findings of the 2011 Nobel Laureates in Physics have helped to
unveil a Universe that to a large extent is unknown to science. And everything
is possible again.
--
※ 来源:．南京大学小百合站 http://bbs.nju.edu.cn [FROM: 147.8.166.149]
※ 修改:．CtrlAltDel 於 Oct 4 18:16:11 2011 修改本文．[FROM: 147.8.166.149]
标 题: The Nobel Prize in Physics 2011
发信站: 南京大学小百合站 (Tue Oct 4 18:08:46 2011)
Press Release
4 October 2011
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in
Physics for 2011
with one half to
Saul Perlmutter
The Supernova Cosmology Project
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California,
Berkeley, CA, USA
and the other half jointly to
Brian P. Schmidt
The High-z Supernova Search Team
Australian National University,
Weston Creek, Australia
and
Adam G. Riess
The High-z Supernova Search Team
Johns Hopkins University and Space Telescope Science Institute,
Baltimore, MD, USA
"for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through
observations of distant supernovae"
Written in the stars
"Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice..." *
What will be the final destiny of the Universe? Probably it will end in ice,
if we are to believe this year's Nobel Laureates in Physics. They have studied
several dozen exploding stars, called supernovae, and discovered that the
Universe is expanding at an ever-accelerating rate. The discovery came as a
complete surprise even to the Laureates themselves.
In 1998, cosmology was shaken at its foundations as two research teams
presented their findings. Headed by Saul Perlmutter, one of the teams had set
to work in 1988. Brian Schmidt headed another team, launched at the end of 199
4, where Adam Riess was to play a crucial role.
The research teams raced to map the Universe by locating the most distant
supernovae. More sophisticated telescopes on the ground and in space, as well
as more powerful computers and new digital imaging sensors (CCD, Nobel Prize
in Physics in 2009), opened the possibility in the 1990s to add more pieces to
the cosmological puzzle.
The teams used a particular kind of supernova, called type Ia supernova. It is
an explosion of an old compact star that is as heavy as the Sun but as small
as the Earth. A single such supernova can emit as much light as a whole galaxy
. All in all, the two research teams found over 50 distant supernovae whose
light was weaker than expected - this was a sign that the expansion of the
Universe was accelerating. The potential pitfalls had been numerous, and the
scientists found reassurance in the fact that both groups had reached the same
astonishing conclusion.
For almost a century, the Universe has been known to be expanding as a
consequence of the Big Bang about 14 billion years ago. However, the discovery
that this expansion is accelerating is astounding. If the expansion will
continue to speed up the Universe will end in ice.
The acceleration is thought to be driven by dark energy, but what that dark
energy is remains an enigma - perhaps the greatest in physics today. What is
known is that dark energy constitutes about three quarters of the Universe.
Therefore the findings of the 2011 Nobel Laureates in Physics have helped to
unveil a Universe that to a large extent is unknown to science. And everything
is possible again.
--
※ 来源:．南京大学小百合站 http://bbs.nju.edu.cn [FROM: 147.8.166.149]
※ 修改:．CtrlAltDel 於 Oct 4 18:16:11 2011 修改本文．[FROM: 147.8.166.149]
http://bbs.nju.edu.cn/bbstcon?board=D_Astronomy&file=M.1317722926.A
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