The role of virtual photons in quantum tunneling

Abstract

Quantum tunneling, a phenomenon which has no counterpart in classical physics, is the quantum-mechanical process by which a microscopic particle can transition through a potential barrier even when the energy of the incident particle is lower than the height of the potential barrier. In this work, a mechanism based on electron/positron annihilation and creation with the participation of virtual photons is proposed as an alternative to explain quantum tunneling processes.