雙語】讓智能手機變成宇宙射線探測器-就這麼簡單
2014-11-07 阅读[29565]
Physicist turns smartphones into pocket cosmic ray detectors
【雙語】物理學家讓智能手機搖身一變成為小型宇宙射線探測器
Source: 源自:
University of Wisconsin-Madison威斯康星大學—麥迪森分校
Summary:摘要
A new smartphone app can essentially turn An droid phones into pocket cosmic ray detectors. The app, DECO, uses thephone's camera to capture energetic subatomic light particles and log data.
一款新手機應用基本上能讓安卓手機變身為小型宇宙射線探測器,這款DECO專案的應用程式可利用手機攝像頭捕獲到高能亞原子光粒子並記錄資料。
Soon, the growing capability of your smartphone could be harnessed to detect cosmic rays in much the same way as high-end, multimillion-dollar observatories.
很快,借助愈發強大的功能,智能手機也可像高端昂貴的天文臺那樣去探測宇宙射線了。
With a simple app addition, Android phones,and likely other smartphone brands in the not-too-distant future, can be turned into detectors to capture the light particles created when cosmic rays crash into Earth's atmosphere.
多了這個簡單的應用程式,安卓手機和在不久將來可能出現的其他品牌智能手機,就能變身為探測器去捕獲在宇宙射線撞擊地球大氣層時產生的光粒子了。
"The apps basically transform the phone into a high-energy particle detector," explains Justin Vandenbroucke,a University of Wisconsin-Madison assistant professor of physics and are searcher at the Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center(WIPAC). "It uses the same principles as these very large experiments."
威斯康星大學麥迪森分校的物理系助理教授、兼威斯康辛州冰立方粒子天體物理中心(WIPAC)研究員賈斯汀-凡登布魯克(Justin Vandenbroucke)解釋說:“此應用程式主要是將手機轉換為高能粒子探測器。其也應用了與這些大型實驗相同的原理。”
Cosmic rays are energetic subatomic particles created, scientists think, in cosmic accelerators like black holes and exploding stars. When the particles crash into theEarth's atmosphere, they create showers of secondary particles called muons.
科學家們覺得,宇宙射線是在宇宙加速過程中(如黑洞和恒星爆炸)產生的高能亞原子粒子。當粒子撞擊地球大氣層時,它們就會產生次生粒子(稱為介子)簇射。
Smartphone cameras use silicon chips that work through what is called the photoelectric effect,in which particles of light, or photons, hit a silicon surface and release anelectric charge. The same is true for muons. When a muon strikes the semiconductor that underpins a smartphone camera, it liberates an electric charge and creates a signature in pixels that can be logged, stored and analyzed.
智能手機攝像頭使用了矽晶片,這種晶片能解決光電效應問題,在晶片中,光粒子或光子撞擊矽表面並釋放電荷。介子同樣如此,當介子撞擊固定手機攝像頭的半導體時,它就會釋放出一個電荷,並在圖元點中產生一個可記錄、存儲和分析的信號。
Cosmic rays emanate from beyond our solar system and are constantly bombarding our planet. Their origins continue to confound astrophysicists as the high-energy particles that compose cosmicrays travel vast distances and their trajectories are bent as they traverse the magnetic fields that abound in interstellar space. Cosmic rays are commonplace and frequently confound astronomical observations looking for other phenomena.
宇宙射線不斷地從我們的太陽系之外撞擊到地球。天體物理學家們對其起源仍然大惑不解,因為組成宇宙射線的高能粒子穿過的距離不但遙遠,而且由於要穿越在佈滿磁場的宇宙空間中,其軌跡也相當彎曲。宇宙射線是相當常見的,總會幹擾到探索其他天文現象的天文觀測。
The idea behind the pocket cosmic ray detector is primarily educational, notes Vandenbroucke, who embarked on the project as a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, at the suggestion of classmate Kenny Jensen, who wrote an early version of the appthat powers the smartphone cosmic ray detector.
“小型宇宙射線背後的想法剛開始是用在教育上的”萬登布魯克解釋道,他身為加利福尼亞大學----伯克利分校的研究生時,在同學肯尼延森的建議下開始了此專案。而肯尼延森編寫了早期版本的應用程式,推進了智能手機宇宙射線探測器的開端。
The project, known as DECO for Distributed Electronic Cosmic-ray Observatory, is supported by grants from the American Physical Society as well as the Knight Foundation and the Simon-Strauss Foundation. It was abetted this past semester and summer through the programming skills of recent Janesville Craig High School graduate and WIPACintern Matthew Plewa.
分散式電子宇宙射線天文臺的DECO專案,獲得了美國物理協會、騎士基金會和西蒙施·特勞斯基金會的資助。此專案通過了簡斯維爾·克雷格高中畢業生和WIPAC實習生馬修·普萊瓦近期的程式設計技能驗證,在過去一學期和暑假裡得到了大力支持。
"I'd been working in the Androide cosystem for a while and it was just one of those hobbies that happened to work out," says Plewa, who plans to study engineering at Iowa State University.
計畫要去愛荷華州立大學學習工程學的普萊瓦說“我已經在Android系統方面工作一段時間了,這本來只是一個業餘愛好,後來變成了工作。”
To help transform DECO into a potent educational presence, Vandenbroucke's WIPAC group -- with grant support from, anational program in particle physics and teacher professional development --plans to engage high school teachers to develop curricular materials around the use of the smartphone cosmic ray detector.
為了使“DECO專案”在教育方面發揮作用,萬登布魯克的WIPAC團隊,計畫雇傭高校教師編撰“有關智能手機宇宙射線探測器應用”的教材(此團隊得到了“粒子物理學和教師專業發展”國家項目QuarkNet的資助)。
To turn your phone into a cosmic ray detector, Vandenbroucke explains, you need to download the app and cover the phone's camera lens with duct tape. The phone can then be placed screen up justabout anywhere, even in a desk drawer as muons can penetrate matter much likeX-rays. (Muon detectors are used, for example, to sketch out hidden geological features and even buried structures of archaeological interest.)
萬登布魯克解釋:要使你的手機變成宇宙射線探測器,你必須先下載APP並且用膠帶蓋住手機鏡頭。然後只要手機螢幕朝上,可放在的任何地方探測,甚至在桌子抽屜裡,因為介子可像X射線那樣穿透物質。(比如,介子探測器可大概勾畫出隱蔽的地質特徵圖,甚至是具有考古價值的地下建築物。)
Left running,an idle phone can be set to record images, which are then analyzed to search for particle events. DECO works by taking an image every couple of seconds. The DECO app analyzes the image and if enough pixels light up, it gets recorded as an event. Particle tracks from both cosmic rays and radioactivity in the environment can be recorded.
除了在使用的手機,閒置的手機也可被改裝來記錄圖像,然後分析圖像以探索粒子事件。DECO每兩分鐘拍攝一次畫面。DECO應用程式分析圖像時,如果有足夠的圖元點亮時,就記錄為一起事件。從宇宙射線和輻射線產生的粒子運行軌跡,在地球環境中都可以記錄到。
Events may sometimes be matched tocosmic phenomena detected by other, more sophisticated observatories and experiments. The DECO app platform also includes a data logger app that routes event information -- time, location and observations -- to a central database.
這些事件有時候與其他更精細的天文臺和實驗所發現的宇宙現象相一致。DECO應用程式平臺同時還包括資料記錄APP,其發送事件資訊(如時間、地點、觀測結果)到中心資料庫。
Vandenbroucke validated the smartphone cosmic ray detector by setting it up and logging data on long-distancecommercial airline flights. Muons are more easily detectable at high altitudes,so the Wisconsin physicist would plug in the detector and switch it on once the flight reached cruising altitude.
萬登布魯克證實,智能手機宇宙射線探測器安裝在長途商業航班飛機上並記錄資料,介子在海拔高的地方更容易被檢測到,所以威斯康辛州的物理學家在 飛機一到達巡航高度時,就接上檢測器,並開始檢測。
Pocket cosmic ray detectors are unlikely to overtake the large, sophisticated detectors astrophysicists use,but if enough people put idle or old cellphones to use to capture muons, the project initiated by Vandenbroucke could one day evolve into a meaningful"citizen science" project.
小型宇宙射線檢測器不太可能比天體物理學家使用的大型精細的探測器強大,但是如果足夠多的人將空置的或舊的手機用於捕獲介子資訊,這項由萬登布魯克發起的項目也許有一天會演變成一個極具意義的"全民科學"專案。
"It would be great to get students and the public interested in gathering data and understanding the particles around them, things they ordinarily don't get a chance to see,"says Vandenbroucke.
萬登布魯克表示:“讓學生們和公眾對收集資料,以及瞭解在他們周圍的平時無法肉眼看到的粒子產生興趣,這實在是太美妙了!”
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英文摘自ScienceDaily
中文翻譯:林少雙 - Susan,黃盛謀 - A mo