Quantum electrodynamics Superpositions Virtual Commentary

Hans Bethe, Julian Schwinger, Shin'ichirō Tomonaga, Freeman Dyson, Richard Feynman quantum mechanics

Quantum electrodynamics

• Electrically charged particles
• move, interact, emit and absorb
• photons, create force fields,
• act like waves, act like particles,
• within certain probabilities
• consistent with special relativity.
• Now these behaviors can be
• described, formulated, renormalized,
• quantified with extreme precision,
• and illustrated with Feynman diagrams.

Superpositions

• Every alternative happens at once,
• every state superimposed in time, so
• to calculate the probability of an electron
• moving from here to there, one would need
• to consider all paths including intermediate
• events, which is impractical; however,
• virtual particles in closed loops return
• particles to their real states, so we can
• cut the Gordian knot. Increasingly
• complicated calculations eventually
• increasingly diminish in importance.

Virtual

• Does any
• virtual particle
• escape to
• become actual?
• Hopes come true;
• dreams awaken;
• silliness
• persists.
• Many agree
• God has a sense
• of humor, like
• a zen potter
• who deliberately
• adds a flaw.
• Fun to tease
• these things out.