2016年CRI China's Unveils ＂Taiji＂ Gravitational Wave Plan

 

Chinese scientists have announced a gravitational wave research plan they're dubbing¹ "Taiji."

The Chinese Academy of Sciences says their research plans will be finalized³ later this year.

Academy member Wu Yueliang says their research will focus on low and medium-frequency gravitational wave signals, which would be different from those which US researchers confirmed they'd found last week using their Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory⁴, or LIGO.

"Gravitational waves can be categorized into three types according to their frequency bands. Low-frequency gravitational waves come from a larger variety of sources than the other two types, like the merger⁵ of binary⁶ galaxies⁷ or supermassive binary black holes and celestial⁸ body explosions. But these sources are yet to be found and this is what we are striving for."

The latest Chinese draft includes two sets of alternative plans.

One would include teaming up with the European Space Agency's eLISA project.

The other would be to launch a group of Chinese satellites to authenticate⁹ any data that the eLISA project comes up with.

eLISA, or "Laser Interferometer Space Antenna," is going to be designed to detect and observe gravitational waves with three satellites arranged in a triangle that sends a laser beam between each other.

It's tentatively scheduled to take shape in 2035.

Chinese Physicist¹⁰ Hu Wenrui says compared with the LIGO's ground-based observatory, eLISA will be able to do more in gravitational wave research, given that it will do the research in space.

"It's more significant, of course more challenging as well, to study low-frequency gravitational waves than high-frequency waves. LISA's project can even deserve more than a Nobel Prize if it succeeds. LIGO's discovery proves the existence of gravitational wave, but there are more secrets in the space waiting to be disclosed."

The new "Taiji" project would be similar to the so-called "Tianqin" plan being launched by Sun Yat-sen University.

"Tianqin" will is due to be carried out in four stages over the next 15 to 20 years, ultimately launching three high-orbit satellites to detect gravitational waves.

However, Wu Yueliang with the Chinese Academy of Sciences says Taiji and Tianqin would have different objectives.

"Tianqin project is aimed at something different from ours. The two projects target gravitational waves of different frequencies. The satellites for Tianqin project will orbit the earth and try to observe the waves, while ours fly around sun and help with study the theories behind the waves as well as the evolution of the universe."

US researchers confirmed last week that they discovered gravitational waves for the first time through the collision of two black holes some 1.3-billion years ago.

The waves from that collision were first detected back in September after making their journey through the cosmos¹¹.

While obviously beyond most people's understanding, the discovery is being hailed as a breakthrough in astronomic¹² research, as it appears to prove theories put forward by both Einstein and Stephen Hawking¹³ about how the universe works.

By studying the discovery, astronomers¹⁴ may eventually be able to see the universe beyond what can currently be detected through the spectrum¹⁵.

For CRI, this is Luo Bin².

1 dubbing   

n.配音v.给…起绰号( dub的现在分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• There are mainly two forms of film translation: dubbing and subtitling. 电影翻译通常主要表现为两种形式：配音和字幕翻译。 来自互联网
• Its auspices, dubbing the program has won national awards in China. 其主持配音的节目多次获得中国全国奖项。 来自互联网

2 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

3 finalized   

vt.完成（finalize的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The draft of this article has been finalized [done]. 这篇文章已经定稿。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The draft was revised several times before it was finalized. 稿子几经删改才定下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

5 merger   

n.企业合并，并吞

参考例句：

• Acceptance of the offer is the first step to a merger.对这项提议的赞同是合并的第一步。
• Shareholders will be voting on the merger of the companies.股东们将投票表决公司合并问题。

6 binary   

adj.二，双；二进制的；n.双(体)；联星

参考例句：

• Computers operate using binary numbers.计算机运行运用二进位制。
• Let us try converting the number itself to binary.我们试一试，把这个数本身变成二进制数。

7 galaxies   

星系( galaxy的名词复数 )； 银河系； 一群（杰出或著名的人物）

参考例句：

• Quasars are the highly energetic cores of distant galaxies. 类星体是遥远星系的极为活跃的核心体。
• We still don't know how many galaxies there are in the universe. 我们还不知道宇宙中有多少个星系。

8 celestial   

adj.天体的；天上的

参考例句：

• The rosy light yet beamed like a celestial dawn.玫瑰色的红光依然象天上的朝霞一样绚丽。
• Gravity governs the motions of celestial bodies.万有引力控制着天体的运动。

9 authenticate   

vt.证明…为真，鉴定

参考例句：

• We would have to authenticate your relationship with the boy.我们必须证实一下您和那个孩子的关系。
• An expert was needed to authenticate the original Van Gogh painting from his imitation.这幅画是凡·高的真迹还是赝品,需由专家来鉴定。

10 physicist   

n.物理学家，研究物理学的人

参考例句：

• He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
• The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。

11 cosmos   

n.宇宙；秩序，和谐

参考例句：

• Our world is but a small part of the cosmos.我们的世界仅仅是宇宙的一小部分而已。
• Is there any other intelligent life elsewhere in the cosmos?在宇宙的其他星球上还存在别的有智慧的生物吗？

12 astronomic   

天文学的，星学的

参考例句：

• The environmental impact of this population increase is bound to be astronomic. 这个人口增长对环境的影响必然是天文数字。
• Eclipse is a very intriguing astronomic phenomenon. 日食是非常引人入胜的天文现象。

13 hawking   

利用鹰行猎

参考例句：

• He is hawking his goods everywhere. 他在到处兜售他的货物。
• We obtain the event horizon and the Hawking spectrumformula. 得到了黑洞的局部事件视界位置和Hawking温度以及Klein—Gordon粒子的Hawking辐射谱。

14 astronomers   

n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Astronomers can accurately foretell the date,time,and length of future eclipses. 天文学家能精确地预告未来日食月食的日期、时刻和时长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings. 天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。