爱因斯坦是如何预测到黑洞的存在的?,黑洞是爱因斯坦广义相对论预言存在的一种天体

写在文前（本文英文引自网络原文全文（By Ashley Strickland, CNN），仅转为中文供有兴趣的爱好者参考）

科学家们第一次探测到黑洞后面的光，它证实了爱因斯坦广义相对论的预测。神就是神，创立一个学说，后人只有证实及论证的
For the first time, scientists have detected light from behind a black hole, and it fulfills a prediction rooted in Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.

科学家们第一次探测到黑洞后面的光，它它证实了爱因斯坦广义相对论的预测。

斯坦福大学天体物理学家丹·威尔金斯 (Dan Wilkins) 和他的同事们观察了一个位于距地球 8 亿光年的星系中心的超大质量黑洞释放的 X 射线。

这些明亮的耀斑并不罕见，因为虽然光无法逃离黑洞，但它周围的巨大引力可以将物质加热到数百万度。 这可以释放无线电波和 X 射线。 有时，这种过热的物质会被快速射流（包括 X 射线和伽马射线）喷射到太空中。

For the first time, scientists have detected light from behind a black hole, and it fulfills a prediction rooted in Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.

Stanford University astrophysicist Dan Wilkins and his colleagues observed X-rays that were released by a supermassive black hole located at the center of a galaxy that is 800 million light-years from Earth.

These bright light flares are not unusual because although light can't escape a black hole, the enormous gravity around it can heat up material to millions of degrees. This can release radio waves and X-rays. Sometimes, this super-heated material is hurled out into space by rapid jets -- including X-rays and gamma rays.

但是威尔金斯注意到稍后发生的较小的 X 射线闪光，并且颜色不同——它们来自黑洞的远端。

“进入那个黑洞的任何光都不会出来，所以我们应该看不到黑洞后面的任何东西，”该研究的作者、Kavli 粒子天体物理学和宇宙学研究所的研究科学家威尔金斯说。斯坦福大学和 SLAC 国家加速器实验室，在一份声明中如是说。

But Wilkins noticed smaller flashes of X-rays that occurred later and were different colors -- and they were coming from the far side of the black hole.

"Any light that goes into that black hole doesn't come out, so we shouldn't be able to see anything that's behind the black hole," said Wilkins, study author and research scientist at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford University and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, in a statement.

然而，黑洞的奇异性质实际上使观测成为可能。

他说：“我们之所以能看到这一点，是因为那个黑洞正在扭曲空间、弯曲光线并扭曲自身周围的磁场。”

However, the black hole's strange nature actually made the observation possible.

"The reason we can see that is because that black hole is warping space, bending light and twisting magnetic fields around itself," he said.

该研究于上周三发表在《自然》杂志上。

“五十年前，当天体物理学家开始推测磁场在黑洞附近的行为时，他们不知道有朝一日我们可能拥有直接观察这一现象并看到爱因斯坦广义相对论实际运行的技术，”说研究合著者、人文与科学学院的 Luke Blossom 教授、斯坦福大学物理学教授 Roger Blandford 在一份声明中说。

爱因斯坦的理论，或者说引力是物质扭曲时空的想法，随着新的天文学发现的出现，已经持续了一百年。

一些黑洞有一个日冕，或者当物质落入黑洞并被加热到极端温度时，在黑洞周围形成一圈明亮的光。这种 X 射线是科学家研究和绘制黑洞的一种方式。

当气体落入黑洞时，它可以飙升到数百万度。这种极端加热会导致电子与原子分离，从而产生磁性等离子体。黑洞强大的引力导致这个磁场在黑洞上方形成弧形并旋转直到它破裂。
The study published last Wednesday in the journal Nature.

"Fifty years ago, when astrophysicists starting speculating about how the magnetic field might behave close to a black hole, they had no idea that one day we might have the techniques to observe this directly and see Einstein's general theory of relativity in action," said Roger Blandford, study coauthor and the Luke Blossom Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences and professor of physics at Stanford University, in a statement.

Einstein's theory, or the idea that gravity is matter warping space-time, has persisted for a hundred years as new astronomical discoveries have been made.

Some black holes have a corona, or a ring of bright light that forms around a black hole as material falls into it and becomes heated to extreme temperatures. This X-ray light is one way scientists can study and map black holes.

As gas falls into a black hole, it can spike to millions of degrees. This extreme heating causes electrons to separate from atoms, which creates magnetic plasma. The powerful gravitational forces of the black hole cause this magnetic field to arc high above the black hole and twirl until it breaks.

这与太阳的日冕或炎热的外部大气没有什么不同。 太阳表面覆盖着磁场，当它们与太阳日冕中的带电粒子相互作用时，就会形成圈和羽流。 这就是为什么科学家将黑洞周围的环称为日冕。

威尔金斯说：“这个磁场被捆绑起来，然后靠近黑洞加热它周围的一切，并产生这些高能电子，然后继续产生 X 射线。”

在研究 X 射线耀斑时，威尔金斯发现了较小的闪光。 他和他的研究人员意识到更大的 X 射线耀斑正在被反射并“从圆盘的背面绕着黑洞弯曲”，让他们能够看到黑洞的远端。
This isn't unlike the sun's corona, or hot outer atmosphere. The sun's surface is covered in magnetic fields, which cause loops and plumes to form as they interact with charged particles in the sun's corona. This is why scientists refer to the ring around black holes as a corona.

"This magnetic field getting tied up and then snapping close to the black hole heats everything around it and produces these high energy electrons that then go on to produce the X-rays," Wilkins said.

While studying the X-ray flares, Wilkins spotted smaller flashes. He and his fellow researchers realized the larger X-ray flares were being reflected and "bent around the black hole from the back of the disk," allowing them to see the far side of the black hole.

“几年来，我一直在对这些回声对我们的看法进行理论预测，”威尔金斯说。 “我已经在我一直在发展的理论中看到了它们，所以一旦我在望远镜观测中看到它们，我就能弄清楚它们之间的联系。”

观测是使用两台天基 X 射线望远镜进行的：NASA 的 NuSTAR 和欧洲航天局的 XMM-Newton。

需要更多的观察来了解这些黑洞日冕，欧洲航天局即将推出的名为 Athena 的 X 射线天文台将于 2031 年发射。

“它有一个比我们在 X 射线望远镜上使用过的镜子大得多的镜子，它将让我们在更短的观察时间内获得更高分辨率的外观，”威尔金斯说。 “因此，有了这些新的天文台，我们目前开始从数据中获得的图片将变得更加清晰。”

"I've been building theoretical predictions of how these echoes appear to us for a few years," Wilkins said. "I'd already seen them in the theory I've been developing, so once I saw them in the telescope observations, I could figure out the connection."

The observations were made using two space-based X-ray telescopes: NASA's NuSTAR and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton.

More observation will be needed to understand these black hole coronas and the European Space Agency's upcoming X-ray observatory, called Athena, will launch in 2031.

"It's got a much bigger mirror than we've ever had on an X-ray telescope and it's going to let us get higher resolution looks in much shorter observation times," Wilkins said. "So, the picture we are starting to get from the data at the moment is going to become much clearer with these new observatories."