Even if we never succeed in isolating a glueball (see left), there's one place physicists are convinced they will turn up - at the LHC, as packets of energy exchanged when protons suffer only a glancing collision in the accelerator.

即使我们最终也不能分离出一个胶球（见上文），至少有一个地方物理学家会相信它会出现——在大型强子对撞机，如果质子只受到一个擦肩而过（而不是迎头——译者注）的碰撞的能量交换的话。

These "virtual" glueballs come in all shapes and sizes depending on the nature of the collision, creating a mathematicalheadache for theorists. But there is a ready remedy, says theorist Joe Polchinski at the University of California, Santa Barbara: simplify them all into an "effective" particle known as a pomeron.

这些虚的胶球的形状和大小取决于碰撞的本质，这着实是个让理论物理学家个头疼的数学问题。但有一个现成的补救措施，美国加州大学圣巴巴拉分校的理论物理学家Joe Polchinski说：整个简化成一个等效的称为pomeron的粒子。

Pomerons have a long history in models of proton interactions, pre-dating theories involving quarks, gluons and the strong force. They were even one of the inspirations for string theory (see "Stringballs"), which originally aimed to explain protons before it was radically repurposed. "String theory was supposed to be a theory of the strong interactions," says Polchinski. "Instead it turned out to be a theory of gravity."

Pomerons在质子相互作用的模型中有一个很长的历史，甚至在夸克、胶子和强相互作用力的引入之前就有。他们甚至是弦理论的源头之一（请参阅 "Stringballs"），最初的目的是解释质子，然后才从根本上改变用途。"弦理论起初被建议为是强相互作用的理论"，Polchinski说， "然后才转变成一个引力理论。"

Now things are moving back the other way. String theory with an extra fifth dimension turns out to look very much like the strong force in our conventional four dimensions - so it can now be used to understand pomerons and the goings-on in glancing reactions at the LHC.

现在，事情正在朝相反的方向发展。一个有额外的第五个维度的弦理论看起来非常像我们传统的四维中的强相互作用力——所以它现在被用来理解pomerons以及在大型强子对撞机中的擦肩而过的反应。

That could help hook the big fish: such brushing encounters produce much less debris than a standard head-on LHC collision. Detectors are under development that can spot protons that have swapped pomerons, and they could provide a particularly clear sight of the vaunted Higgs boson, says theorist Jeff Forshaw at the University of Manchester in the UK.

这可能真的会放长线钓大鱼：这样的擦肩而过的碰撞比一个标准的大型强子对撞机中的迎头碰撞产生少得多的碎片。探测器正在改进以发现质子交换 pomerons的信号，这样的改进有助于更清楚的看到人们更为关注的希格斯玻色子，英国曼彻斯特大学的理论物理学家Jeff Forshaw说。

energy [´enədʒi]   n.活力，精力；能力   (初中英语单词)

california [,kæli´fɔ:njə]   n.加利福尼亚   (初中英语单词)

supposed [sə´pəuzd]   a.想象的；假定的   (初中英语单词)

headache [´hedeik]   n.头痛；使人头痛的事   (高中英语单词)

remedy [´remidi]   n.药品 vt.医治；减轻   (高中英语单词)

particle [´pɑ:tikl]   n.微粒；极小量   (高中英语单词)

originally [ə´ridʒənəli]   ad.本来；独创地   (高中英语单词)

dimension [di´menʃən]   n.尺寸；面积；体积   (高中英语单词)

manchester [´mæntʃistə]   n.曼彻斯特   (高中英语单词)

conventional [kən´venʃənəl]   a.常规的；协定的   (英语四级单词)

collision [kə´liʒən]   n.碰幢；冲突；互撞事件   (英语六级单词)

mathematical [,mæθə´mætikəl]   a.数学的；精确的   (英语六级单词)

simplify [´simplifai]   vt.简单化；精简   (英语六级单词)