The Marvel and the Mystery of Quantum Mechanics — Some Reflections

Julian Schwinger

Alberto Cordero

Marcello Poletti

Allen C. Dotson

Much has been written in recent years about the strange features associated with the quantum-mechanical description of nature at the atomic level. Physics teachers should help their students to see that many of these mysterious features are direct results of interpretive principles added to the basic theory of quantum mechanics, and that therefore they may or may not reflect the best possible understanding we can achieve of how nature works at that level. This paper discusses three such principles and their connection to well-known quantum mysteries. The practical significance of distinguishing between quantum mechanics itself and these principles is that it remains possible that other explanatory ideas may be found which lead to less mysterious consequences.

Jaroslav Zamastil

Nobuo Nagai, Hirofumi Sanada, Takashi Yahagi

Circuit theory, which explains the behavior of electromagnetic waves, concerns reflection waves caused by the difference in impedance. In this session, we demonstrate that electromagnetic waves with the angular frequency of nπ or nπ + π/2 exhibit interesting behavior in circuits with a high impedance ratio and a large amount of reflection. The physical phenomenon of increasing the amount of reflection is considered to be the same as the tunneling effect in quantum mechanics. This demonstration shows that the application of the telegrapher's equations expressing the electromagnetic fields and waves of the Maxwell equations to quantum mechanics may provide a clue to seeing the light at the end of the mysterious tunnel in quantum mechanics.