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On Virtual Phonons, Photons, and Electrons

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An Erratum to this article was published on 16 September 2010

An Erratum to this article was published on 16 September 2010

An Erratum to this article was published on 16 September 2010

Abstract

A macroscopic realization of the peculiar virtual particles is presented. The classical Helmholtz and the Schrödinger equations are differential equations of the same mathematical structure. The solutions with an imaginary wave number are called evanescent modes in the case of elastic and electromagnetic fields. In the case of non-relativistic quantum mechanical fields they are called tunneling solutions. The imaginary wave numbers point to strange consequences: The waves are non-local, they are not observable, and they are described as virtual particles. During the last two decades QED calculations of the solutions with an imaginary wave number have been experimentally confirmed for phonons, photons, and electrons. The experimental proofs of the predictions of non-relativistic quantum mechanics and the Wigner phase time approach for the elastic, electromagnetic and Schrödinger fields will be presented in this article. The results are zero time in the barrier and an interaction time (i.e. a phase shift) at the barrier interfaces. The measured tunneling time scales approximately inversely with the particle energy. Actually, the tunneling time is given only by the barrier boundary interaction time, as zero time is spent inside a barrier.

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  1. II. Physikalisches Institut, Universtät zu Köln, Zülpicherstrasse 77, 50937, Köln, Germany

    Günter Nimtz

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  1. Günter Nimtz
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Correspondence to Günter Nimtz.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10701-010-9503-6

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Nimtz, G. On Virtual Phonons, Photons, and Electrons. Found Phys 39, 1346–1355 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-009-9356-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-009-9356-z

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