Duality in physical sciences and beyond

George Gamow

Qiang-Hua Wang

By bosonizing the electronic t-J model exactly on any two-dimensional (2D) lattices, and integrating out the gauge fluctuations combined to slave particles beyond mean fields, we obtain a theory in terms of physical Cooper pair and spin condensates. In the sense of mutual Berry phase they turn out to be dual to each other. The mutual duality is the missing key in the resonant-valance-bond idea [Science 235, 1196 (1987)]] to work as a paradigm of doped 2D Mott insulators. We argue that the essential aspects of high-T(c) phenomenology can be explained in the present framework.

Berthold‐Georg Englert, Marlan O. Scully, HERBERT WALTHER

Maija Nousiainen, Aku Pajula, Ismo T. Koponen

Wave-particle duality (WPD) of photons is a recurrent topic in science education research in teaching and learning the quantum behaviour of light. In this commentary, we discuss how WPD has been approached in science teaching and science education literature, and how it leads to ontological challenges in searching for the real “nature of photons”. We suggest that WPD can serve as a starting point of teaching quantum physics if we want to use natural language in discussing experimental results (as Bohr intended it to be). That way WPD can also be approached as part of modern quantum optics as a natural language expression to communicate information acquired in experiments. Such an ap-proach includes a contemporary understanding of quantitative WPD as a means to speak about features of photons as quantum states, not as entity-like objects. Content is discussed at a level appropriate for physics teacher education.

Erkki Brändas

Zsuzsanna Plank

This paper explores the conceptual intersections between quantum mechanics and world literature by examining how different physical interpretations manifest in literary narratives. Moving beyond science-fiction tropes, the study provides a non-specialist overview of core principles—including wave-particle duality, quantum superposition, and the structure of Schrödinger equation—and utilizes fiction as a cognitive tool to illustrate complex realities. Through a comparative analysis, Frigyes Karinthy’s Barabbás is used to contextualize foundational quantum concepts, H.G. Wells’s The Country of the Blind serves as an analogy for the Copenhagen interpretation, and Sándor Márai’s Peace in Ithaca (Béke Ithacában) visualizes the Many-Worlds interpretation. By demonstrating how fictional plots function as structural analogies for physical models, this study highlights the epistemological links between science and the humanities, offering an accessible pathway to quantum theory while challenging conventional perceptions of reality