Feynman’s Simple Quantum Mechanics

Edwin F. Taylor
Boston University & University of Washington

This sample class presents an alternative to the conventional introduction to

quantum mechanics and describes its current use in a credit course. This alternative
introduction rests on theory presented in professional and popular writings by
Richard Feynman. Feynman showed that Nature gives a simple command to the
electron: “Explore all paths.” All of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, among
other fundamental results, comes from this command. With a desktop computer the
student points and clicks to tell a modeled electron which paths to follow. The
computer then shows the results, which embody the elemental strangeness and
paradoxical behaviors of the world of the very small. Feynman’s approach requires
few equations and provides a largely non-mathematical introduction to the wave
function of conventional quantum mechanics. Draft software and materials already
used for two semesters in an e-mail computer conference credit university course
show that Feynman’s approach works well with a variety of students. The sample
class explores computer and written material and describes the next steps in its
development.

I feel my generation and the current generation have not devoted the time and
profound effort to make the extraordinary phenomena of relativity and quantum
mechanics accessible to the intelligent, educated person. I am sure it can be done
because that’s the way I understand it. This failure to make the subject accessible
to the general educated person has, to my mind, resulted in driving science,
particularly physics, out of the secondary schools. Unless a great effort, a really
great effort, is expended in this direction, the outlook for the future is bleak.

I. I. Rabi, in a personal epilogue to RABI, Scientist and Citizen

by John S. Rigden, Basic Books, New York, 1987, pages 262-3.

INTRODUCTION

The usual introduction to quantum mechanics, wave functions and the

Schroedinger equation, is complicated and mathematically formal. Knowledgeable
scientists, including Richard Feynman, have known for decades that the “wave
theory” of quantum mechanics is not fundamental. Interactions among nuclei,
electrons, and light are described by quantum electrodynamics (QED). And
stripped of its coating of formalism, QED is stunningly simple.
 The electron is stupid. The electron lacks the sophistication to obey the
complicated postulates of non-relativistic quantum mechanics. But the more
fundamental QED really has only one command for the electron: “Explore all
paths.” The electron is so stupid that it cannot even choose which path to follow,
so it follows them all. The three-word command “Explore all paths” not only leads
to all the results of non-relativistic quantum mechanics but also opens the door to
the exploration of other fundamental interactions of Nature embodied in QED.
The simple Feynman treatment is generally known by the names “the sum over
paths” or “the path integral” method or “the Many Paths theory” (as we shall call it
here). Feynman originated his treatment in the 1940’s, showing that it is in every
way equivalent to the standard formulation of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics.
He continued to refine it throughout his career, developing an elegant brief
presentation in a popular book written with Ralph Leighton entitled QED, The
Strange Theory of Light and Matter (1).
Why has this introduction to quantum mechanics not been used in standard
textbooks? Probably because until recently the student could not track the
electron’s exploration of alternative paths without using advanced mathematics.
With current desktop computers, however, a student can command the modeled
electron directly, pointing and clicking to select paths for it to explore. The
computer then mimics Nature to carry out mechanical tasks and present results
rich in the stunning paradoxes of the very small.

EARLY TRIALS AND STUDENT RESPONSES

For both semesters of the academic year 1995-96, Feynman’s book was the
basis of a college course called “Demystifying Quantum Mechanics.” First-draft
computer software animates the book’s figures. This software is the key to the
success of the presentation. Students use the software to interact with Feynman’s
simple model, to enrich their class discussion (currently carried out over a
computer conference course on the Internet), and to solve homework exercises.
After covering a majority of Feynman’s little book, the course derives electron
wave functions and their bound states from the many paths theory.
Because the computer displays and analyzes paths explored by the electron, no
equations are required for the first half of the semester. Yet from the very first
week students are deeply engaged in some of the fundamental questions about
quantum mechanics that have engrossed professionals for decades. Moreover, the
software makes students accountable: specific questions can be answered only by
properly using the software.
 How do students respond to this treatment? Listen to comments of students
enrolled in the fall 1995 course. (Three periods separate comments by different
students.)

The reading was incredible...I really get a kick out of Feynman’s totally off-
wall way of describing this stuff...Truly a ground-breaker!...He brings up
some REALLY interesting ideas that I am excited to discuss with the rest
of the class...Feynman presents the material in such a logical and
understandable manner, I can hardly wait for the next example...It is an
easy storytelling with plenty of everyday analogies...I find it similar to a
good novel. Hard to put down or out of my mind...Feynman does a great
job of explaining a post-graduate physics topic in nearly everyday
language...I’m learning twice as much as I ever hoped to, and we have just
scratched the surface...It’s all so profound. I find myself understanding
“physics” at a more fundamental level...I enjoy reading him because he
seems so honest about what he (and everyone else) does not know...Man,
it made me feel good to read that Feynman couldn’t understand this stuff
either...I was very pleased to have Feynman tell us that what we will learn
is absurd...I am learning SO MUCH from all of you. That’s one of this
course format’s strongest features...As I breeze through Feynman, it occurs
to me that the reading is easy because of the software simulations we have
run...the software is invaluable. It makes the visualization so much
easier...the software plays a very strong role in helping us understand the
points being made by Feynman. Since we started this class I’ve just been
following along as Feynman and Edwin hold my hand.

During the spring 1996 semester, a student remarked in a post-script:

PS-Kudos for this course. I got an A in my intro qm class without having

even a fraction of the understanding I have now. . . . This all makes so
much more sense now, and I owe a large part of that to the software. I
never [had] such compelling and elucidating simulations in my former
course. Thanks again!!!

At the end of the spring 1996 class, participants completed an evaluative

questionnaire. Feynman’s treatment and the software were almost equally popular:

Q5. I found Feynman’s approach to quantum mechanics to be

boring/irritating 1 2 3 4 5 fascinating/stimulating
Student choices: 0 0 0 2 11 (Average: 4.85)
 Q18. For my understanding of the material, the software was:
not important 1 2 3 4 5 very important
Student choices: 0 0 1 1 11 (Average: 4.77)

In the quotes above, one student refers to “this course format.” The current
setting is a computer conference credit course run out of Montana State
University. Students located all over the country participate at times convenient to
their daily schedule. In addition to quantum mechanics, Taylor has taught special
and general relativity by this and similar electronic methods for eight years (2).

SYLLABUS

Here is the “logic line” for the course. Almost every step in the following
sequence is accompanied by a piece of software with which the student explores
that portion of the theory without using explicit mathematical formalism. At each
step some important results are neglected. For example, only the last step of the
following treatment takes account of the spin of photons and electrons and the
crucial consequences of spin.

The Photon

1. Begin with partial reflection of a photon incident perpendicular to the

surface of a sheet of glass. Approximately 4 percent of incident photons
reflect from the front surface of the glass and another 4 percent from the
back surface of the glass. The net reflection from both surfaces taken
together, however, is not always 8 percent. Instead, it varies from nearly
zero to 16 percent, depending on the thickness of the glass.
2. The results of partial reflection are correctly predicted by assuming that the
photon explores all paths between emitter and detector. An imaginary
stopwatch rotates as the photon explores each path. The final arrow for
the stopwatch hand at the detector, added to the final arrows for stopwatch
hands for alternative paths, yields a resulting arrow.
3. The probability that the photon will be detected at a detector is proportional
to the square of the resulting arrow at that detector. This probability
depends on the thickness of the glass. Steps one through three embody the
basic Many Paths theory of QED.
4. The Many Paths theory also correctly predicts details of reflection from a
mirror, two-slit interference, the operation of diffraction gratings, and all
other standard optical phenomena.
5. How fast does the photon stopwatch rotate? At the frequency of the
corresponding classical wave.
 The Electron

6. Behavior of the electron is also correctly predicted by assuming that it

explores all paths between emission and detection. As before, exploration
along each path is accompanied by an imaginary rotating stopwatch. How
fast does the electron stopwatch rotate? To answer this question, we
summarize classical mechanics using the Principle of Least Action (Step 7).
7. The classical Principle of Least Action summarizes the classical mechanics
relevant to non-relativistic quantum mechanics. Feynman treats the
classical Principle of Least Action in his Lectures on Physics (3). Basically,
a particle in a potential follows the path of least action. Action is defined
as the time integral over the path of the quantity (KE - PE), where KE and
PE are the potential and kinetic energies of the particle, respectively.
NOTE: This step introduces the space-time diagram and also the FIRST
equation used in the course.
8. The electron stopwatch rotates with a frequency f related to the action:
KE − PE
f = (1)
h
where h is Planck’s constant. In the absence of a potential, the major
contributions to the resulting arrow at the detector come from paths
(worldlines) that are near the straight path (near the straight worldline)
between emission and detection.
NOTE A: The classical Principle of Least Action requires fixed initial and
final events. This is exactly what the Many Paths theory needs too, with
fixed events of emission and detection.
NOTE B: The classical Principle of Least Action is valid only when
dissipative forces (such as friction) are absent. This condition also is
satisfied by quantum mechanics, since there are no frictional forces at the
atomic level.

The Wave Function

9. Thus far we have described only an electron emitted at a single time and
place. We can predict the resulting arrows at many detectors all over the
place at a later time t1 -- and then the resulting arrows at those detectors at
a STILL later time t2. But the Many Paths theory allows us to construct
resulting arrows at t2 from the collection of arrows at t1. This is done, as
usual, by summing the stopwatch arrows for all paths from each point on
the wave function at t1 to each point on the wave function at t2. Details of
the original emission need not be known.
10. We call the (non-relativistic) wave function the collection of resulting
arrows over space at a given time. The Many Paths theory uses the initial
 wave function to predict the wave function at a later time. The probability
of finding the electron at a given time and place is proportional to the
squared magnitude of the resulting arrow at that time and place.

The Bound State

11. The Many Paths theory predicts the development with time of an initial
wave function in a binding potential, in this case including paths that double
back on themselves. The clock rotation rate f at each point on each
explored worldline is given by equation (1). For each member of a
particular set of unique initial wave functions, the arrows for the wave
function at later time each keep the same magnitude and all rotate at the
same rate. The resulting probability profile does not change with time.
These unique wave functions are the stationary state wave functions, and
each represents a single value of the total energy.
12. When spin is added to the Many Paths theory, the results are central to
describing the behavior of photons in lasers and electrons in multi-electron
atoms.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

The rudimentary capabilities of current software frustrate students in their

desire to explore more widely. This software must be rewritten by a professional
programmer.
Analysis of bound states is currently limited to the infinite square well
potential, and the software for this demonstration is still unsatisfactory. More
robust software should be written for this case and for the simple harmonic
oscillator.
Ideally, the treatment should be extended to derive Schroedinger’s equation
simply and directly from the Many Paths theory, as Feynman did in 1948 (4).
Revised materials must be moved to the World Wide Web and offered both as
a course and for general dissemination.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Portions of this paper were adapted from earlier writing in collaboration with
Paul Horwitz. Ken Johnson and Daniel Styer have given advice and helped guard
against errors in the draft treatment (not always successfully!). Paul Horwitz and
Nora Thornber have offered much advice on the approach and the software.
 REFERENCES
1. Feynman, R.P., QED, The Strange Theory of Light and Matter, Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1985.
2. Smith, R.C. and E.F. Taylor, “Teaching physics on line,” Am. J. Phys., 63, 1090-1096,
1995.
3. Feynman, R.P., R.B. Leighton, & M. Sands, The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Reading:
Addison-Wesley, 1964, vol. II, ch. 19.
4. Feynman, R.P., “Space-time Approach to Non-Relativistic Quantum Mechanics,” Reviews of
Modern Physics, 29, 367-387, 1948.