1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 493: Doppler effect! Spectral redshift! The shock of cosmic expansion!
When Hubble announced that he had proved the fifth prediction of general relativity, the whole audience was excited.

If this is true, then this achievement will overwhelm the entire audience.

Not to mention Eddington's method of measuring stars, even Hubble's own verification of the island universe theory cannot compare to it.

Not on the same level.

That is the prediction of general relativity!
This is so shocking.

Although there have not been many studies on Guangxiang in recent years, and there have not been any major results.

But this is not because Guang Xiang is not good.

And it’s precisely because it’s so good and so awesome.

Professor Bruce has been silent for ten years, but his first move represents the pinnacle of human wisdom.

So there is no chance for anyone to intervene and provide additional information.

I can only publish some scraps of analysis based on it.

For example, various applications of general physics, finding solutions to some special equations and so on.

The five great prophecies are the five great artifacts of astronomy.

If an ordinary person gets one, he can become famous all over the world and command all the heroes!
However, even though Guangxiang was so shocking and beyond his time.

But it has been ten years since it was published, and it has still not won the Nobel Prize.

Even the narrow-mindedness did not win the Nobel Prize.

Although in the eyes of many bigwigs, the probability of relativity being wrong can be ignored.

In the process of their research, they directly used things like scale contraction effect and mass-energy equation.

But the old guys on the Swedish Nobel Prize Committee are more stubborn.

As the status of the Nobel Prize becomes increasingly higher, the process becomes more formalized.

It's starting to have an idol burden.

The current award criteria are much stricter than at the beginning.

The Nobel Prize has always insisted that theories need to be verified by experiments.

If the original concept of quantum had been introduced today, it would probably not have won the Nobel Prize so quickly.

At least we have to wait until the Bohr-Lee model comes out.

Especially for the supreme theory like general relativity, it needs to be treated with extreme caution.

When Guang Xiang was first published, many bigwigs nominated it as a candidate for the Nobel Prize.

But it was rejected by members of the Physics Nobel Prize Committee.

They reached a consensus in internal discussions:

"Guang Xiang has five major predictions. It would be better to wait until they are verified before awarding the prize."

After Eddington verified the bending of starlight, more people were nominated for the Nobel Prize every year.

The theoretical predictions are in perfect agreement with the experimental results.

This definitely meets the award-winning criteria.

At this time, the five members of the Physics Nobel Prize Committee were a little hesitant and shaken.

"How about we give an award to Guang Xiang?"

"If we take into account the problem of Mercury's precession, there should be two experimental evidences for the general phase."

"For physical theory, the probability of error is very small."

However, one of the oldest members said conservatively:

"I think we can wait."

"General relativity holds a very special and lofty position in physics."

“We have to make sure it’s 100 percent correct.”

Then, the old man joked:
"Professor Bruce doesn't need a Nobel Prize anyway."

"He won't care."

The others all smiled knowingly.

Everyone reached a consensus and decided to wait and see for a while.

If one of the five major predictions can be proved, then Guang Xiang will have three experimental evidences.

The probability of making a mistake can be assumed to be zero.

Then, it will be time to present the awards.

Although no one present this year understood the thoughts of the members of the Physics Nobel Prize Committee,

But they knew very well that if Hubble had really proved the expansion of the universe today.

Then general relativity definitely has a chance of winning the Nobel Prize.

And in the eyes of the big guys:

Guangxiang winning the Nobel Prize is not an honor for Guangxiang, nor is it an honor for Professor Bruce, but an honor for the Nobel Prize.

This is the greatness of relativity!
At this moment, everyone's eyes were burning on Hubble like flames.

It was the fire of desire, the fire of shock, the fire of envy.

Eddington looked excited and was truly happy for Hubble.

After him, someone finally conquered Guangxiang's prophecy again.

And he is his best friend, this is the greatest blessing in life!
Shapley stared at Hubble.

He thought his previous behavior was a little funny.

The great debate of the century, which he regarded as the honor of his life, was just Hubble's appetizer.

I'm afraid the other party doesn't care about proving the cosmic island theory at all.

This gap made Shapley feel powerless.

"So this is the difference between a genius and a non-genius."

Yu Qingsong looked at Hubble, who was so domineering and standing in front of countless people, and his blood boiled in his heart.

All along, he has been immersed in the glory of Professor Li Qiwei.

He is a rising star in the country's astronomy and shoulders important responsibilities.

But if he were to ask himself, he felt that it was still uncertain whether he could do as well as Hubble.

As a half-disciple of Professor Bruce, he endured ten years of hard work and finally achieved success.

This feeling is so inspiring and shocking!

Even though Hubble was a foreigner, Yu Qingsong couldn't help but admire him.

Only the strong will respect the strong.

Hai Er couldn't help but straighten his chest and smile.

He knew that next, it would be Hubble's solo show.

After today, he will be able to rank among the world's top astronomers.

Even surpassing him, the great astronomy expert, and becoming known to the world.

At this moment, Hai Er suddenly discovered that Professor Bruce next to him had no expression and was not excited at all.

This is so strange.

So he asked curiously:
"Professor Bruce, Hubble has proved another prediction of general relativity."

"Aren't you happy?"

Li Qiwei heard this, smiled slightly, and said calmly:
"Oh, the result is certain, it's just a matter of time."

amount.

Hai Er turned his head silently, unable to say anything.

"Shift! I hate it when people show off."

At this moment, facing everyone's expectations, Hubble took a deep breath.

Next, it will be his peak moment!
He began to share his work.

"In Professor Bruce's general relativity, field equations are central."

"This equation describes how the universe works."

"Each solution to the equation represents a universe with completely new rules." "Of course, this is just a theoretical prediction, not that there are really that many universes."

"But at least in our real universe, if we follow the calculation results of the field equations, we can conclude that the universe is expanding."

"This is the fifth prediction of general relativity."

"It was based on this prediction that Professor Bruce proposed the incredible Big Bang theory."

"Whether the Big Bang theory is correct or not, I don't know at the moment."

"But today I can provide concrete evidence for the hypothesis that the universe is expanding."

"Everyone please look at the demonstration screen."

"In 1842, Austrian physicist Doppler first proposed the [Doppler effect]."

"This effect states that the sound produced by a moving object (the source of the wave) appears to change when heard by a stationary observer."

"The higher the speed of the wave source, the greater the effect."

"The effect is reflected in the change in the frequency of the sound waves."

"When the source of the waves moves toward the observer, the frequency of the sound waves received by the observer becomes higher."

"As the source of the waves moves away from the observer, the frequency of the sound waves received by the observer becomes lower."

"To express it in terms of formula: (λ-λ)/λ=v/c."

"Where λ represents the wavelength of the sound emitted by the wave source in motion, λ represents the wavelength when the wave source is stationary, v represents the speed of the wave source, and c represents the speed of sound."

"Since both λ and c are known, as long as the size of λ is measured, the speed v of the wave source can be calculated."

(This is the principle of the Doppler effect to measure the speed of an object)
"Light is an electromagnetic wave, which is also a type of wave, so it also follows the Doppler effect."

“When the light source moves towards the observer, the frequency of the light received by the observer becomes higher.”

"When the frequency of light becomes higher, it means that the wavelength becomes shorter, which is reflected in the spectrum as a shift toward the blue spectrum region, so it is also called a blue shift."

"Similarly, when the light source moves away from the observer, the frequency of the sound waves received by the observer becomes lower, which is also called [redshift]."

"In the universe, all stars are luminous. They themselves are natural light sources."

"Using this principle, we can measure whether a celestial body in the universe is approaching or moving away from the earth, and measure its speed."

"In astronomy, we call the component of a celestial body's velocity in the direction of the observer's line of sight the celestial body's apparent velocity."

"When the Doppler effect formula is applied in astronomy, the form of the formula remains the same, only the meaning changes."

"Where λ represents the wavelength of light emitted by a celestial body in motion, λ represents the wavelength of light emitted by a celestial body when it is stationary, v represents the apparent velocity of the celestial body, and c represents the speed of light."

"C is known, and so is λ, because the elements that make up stars are the same as the elements on Earth."

"The wavelength represented by the position of the spectral line of a certain element measured in the laboratory is lambda."

"At this time, when we measure the difference △λ (Doppler shift) between λ and λ through the received stellar spectrum, we can calculate the value of λ."

"Finally, using the formula, we can calculate v."

"This is the principle of using the Doppler effect in astronomy to measure the apparent velocity of celestial bodies."

"Based on this principle, in 1868, the late British astronomer Sir John Huggins first measured the apparent velocity of Sirius to be 46 km/s."

"And the red shift of the spectrum means that Sirius is moving away from the Earth."

"Similarly, this method can also be used to measure galaxies."

"From 1912 to the present, American astronomer Mr. Schliever has been devoted to the study of galaxy spectra."

(In fact, it should have been called nebula spectrum before, but since the island universe theory has been proven, it was directly changed to galaxy, which is harmless)
In the crowd, 47-year-old Slipher looked confused.

He is the director of the Lowell Observatory in Arizona and a middle-class figure in the American astronomy community.

Of course, he can't be compared with Haier and others.

Now that he was mentioned by the famous Hubble, he suddenly felt flattered.

"Huh? Doesn't that prove that the universe is expanding?"

"Why did you mention me?"

“I’m not bloated!”

At this point, Hubble continued:
"Mr. Slipher observed the spectra of 41 galaxies and found that the spectra of 36 of them were red-shifted."

"This means that all those galaxies are moving away from the Earth."

At this point, Hubble paused for a moment.

He wanted to give everyone some time to digest it.

Because not only Sliver was confused, many people began to look puzzled.

“Didn’t Hubble want to prove that the universe is expanding?”

"Why is it that now all we're talking about is using the Doppler effect to measure the radial velocity of celestial bodies?"

"What's the relationship between the two?"

However, there were also many people who listened with great interest.

"I study planets, but I have never heard of this theory."

"Dr. Hubble's explanation was really good and very easy to understand. I understood it immediately."

"Today I really learned a lot."

"As expected, a good teacher produces a good student. Hubble's public speaking skills are already one-third of Professor Bruce's."

Then, a big shot in the relevant field made a sharp analysis:

"The galaxies are moving away from the Earth, so it has nothing to do with the expansion of the universe."

"Isn't the M31 nebula still approaching our Milky Way?"

"It is normal for celestial bodies in the universe to move away or approach each other."

"The spectra of stars in the Milky Way are both red-shifted and blue-shifted."

At this moment, most people present did not know what Hubble was trying to achieve by laying so much groundwork.

No matter how you look at it, what he wants to say has nothing to do with the conclusion he wants to prove.

However, in such a high-end occasion, the other party obviously would not be mysterious.

Soon, Hubble smiled and continued:

"After listening to the background information just now, I know that everyone here must be wondering."

"What does the movement of galaxies away from the Earth have to do with the expansion of the universe?"

"Yes, there is indeed no connection between the two."

"But if you add one more phenomenon, the situation becomes completely different."

Snapped!
"Everyone, please take a look."

"I re-determined the radial velocities of 46 galaxies."

"In addition, I used the Cepheid variable star distance measurement method to more accurately determine the distances between these 46 galaxies and the Earth."

"By analyzing this data, I discovered a surprising fact:"

"That is, these 46 galaxies are not just spectrally red-shifted, but moving away from Earth."

"Moreover, the farther a galaxy is from Earth, the greater its radial velocity."

"The two also satisfy the mathematical relationship of direct proportion: V=HD."

"Where V is the radial velocity of the galaxy, D is the distance of the galaxy from the Earth, and H is the proportionality constant."

"According to my calculations, H's number is about 70 [(km/s)/mpc], which is 70 [kilometres per second per million parsecs]."

"MPC stands for [million parsecs], which is an astronomical unit of distance. 1 mpc is equivalent to 326 million light years."

"That is to say, for people on Earth, for every 326 million light-years that the distance between a celestial body and Earth increases, the celestial body's recession speed will increase by 70 kilometers per second."

"So, galaxies are not moving in a random, chaotic way, like the stars in the Milky Way."

"They are all moving away from the Earth in a uniform manner, and the farther away they are, the faster they are moving away."

"There is no reason to explain this except that the universe is expanding uniformly."

(Why is it a uniform expansion? I guess many people can't imagine it, don't worry)
"The above is my proof of the fifth prediction of general relativity: the expansion of the universe."

boom!
The whole audience was shocked!

Is it fun to watch?



(End of this chapter)